BROWARD COUNTY, FL - Broward County Library presents NEA Big Read – Fort Lauderdale in January 2021, featuring the book An American Sunrise: Poems by Joy Harjo, United States Poet Laureate. This year’s program series includes a full line-up of events for all ages including its signature event, "Art Lit: A Live Online Celebration of Art & Literature", on January 9, 2021, 10AM – 2PM, EST.
NEA Big Read – Fort Lauderdale kicks off with a special online event, “Celebrating Indigenous Peoples” with Lakota and Anishinaabe storyteller, educator, hoop dancer and recording artist Kevin Locke on January 7, 2021, from 2-3PM, EST.
NEA Big Read events include poetry and art workshops, an American Sign Language book discussion, an interactive discussion of the extended poem For Every One by Jason Reynolds and many more. Participants can connect while making art with Iretta Tiger and Dante Blais-Billie, create a comic strip inspired by Native American poetry and enjoy a special “NEA Big Read: A Conversation with Joy Harjo” event on January 30, 2021 from 2-3PM, EST.
An American Sunrise: Poems is a nationally best-selling volume of wise, powerful poetry from Harjo, the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States. She is a member of the Mvskoke/Creek Nation and the author of nine poetry collections, most recently An American Sunrise: Poems, and a memoir, Crazy Brave. Named Poet Laureate of the United States in 2019, Harjo lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she is a Tulsa Artist Fellow saxophone player of the Mvskoke/Creek Nation.
NEA Big Read – Fort Lauderdale participants can receive a free copy of An American Sunrise: Poems by Joy Harjo, Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets by Kwame Alexander or For Every One by Jason Reynolds at participating libraries while supplies last.
Copies of An American Sunrise: Poems, Out of Wonder and For Every One are available in various formats from Broward County Library.
NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in Partnership with Arts Midwest. Additional sponsorship is provided by the Broward Public Library Foundation and the Florida Center for the Book.
All events are free and open to the public. Registration is requested.
Please see the attachment at the bottom of the page for a list of Big Read 2021 programs or view the online schedule/registration page.
About Broward County Libraries Division
Broward County Libraries Division, named 2020 Library of the Year by the Florida Library Association and the 2020 American Library Association's Library of the Future, was founded in 1974 and is the largest library system in Florida by square footage. Broward County Libraries Division provides convenient access to a full range of innovative and cost-effective services that satisfy the changing needs of the people of Broward County for information, education and recreation. Visit our website, Broward.org/Library, or follow Libraries on Facebook and Twitter.
DATE: November 25, 2020
MEDIA CONTACT: Catherine McElrath
Libraries Division
PHONE: 954-357-7402
EMAIL: cmcelrath@Broward.org