Overview
Sept. 1 – November 30, 2024
The Athens-Clarke County Library is pleased to participate in the 2024 NEA Big Read with Dr. Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor from UGA’s College of Education. The National Endowment for the Arts Big Read is designed to broaden our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book. Our book is Homegoing by Yaa Gysai.
“Where we live” in Athens, Georgia is fluid, changing with each new resident. Every community member’s origins inform where we, as a city, are going. Our focus is on “The People,” our ancestors and lineage and the places we all call “home.” Through shared reading of Gyasi’s novel, we explore our city’s African American history and culture, connecting to present-day diversity.
Homegoing is a novel about the legacy of chattel slavery spanning eight generations. The novel begins with the parallel lives of two half-sisters from Ghana in the 18th century and follows their descendants through periods of history that include the American Civil War and Jazz Age Harlem.
*Homegoing won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Best First Novel and was shortlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction.
Events at the Athens Clarke County Library
Film Screening: Spider-Man: Homecoming
October 7, 6 p.m.
Appleton Auditorium
How do you face the challenge of “going home” once you’ve experienced big changes and diverse abilities? A young Peter Parker begins to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging superhero. Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May, under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark. Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine, distracted by thoughts of proving himself.
Panel Discussion: Going “Home” from Exile: Jewish American Identities with Germany, Austria, and Post-Holocaust Europe
November 17, 3 p.m.
Appleton Auditorium
What does it mean to go “home” to a language, culture, and history of trauma. Each participating author will share creative writing as Jewish-Americans and what it means to “go home” to “New Jewish” European citizenship, to new fluencies in the German language, and to Holocaust history through contemporary Jewish-American perspectives.
Featuring creative writing by Sabrina Orah Mark, Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor, Carly Ornstein, and Michael Wegner
Book Clubs
The public is invited to attend any of these book clubs that will explore the many themes of Homegoing. Stop by the Information Desk to pick up your free copy.
Suffragette City Book Club with facilitator Meagan Gauley
September 29, 4 p.m. at outdoor seating at Normal Bar, 1365 Prince Ave.
https://athenslibrary.libcal.com/event/13156459
Last Monday Book Club with facilitator Sean Polite
September 30, 7 p.m.
Hybrid
African American Authors Book Club with facilitator TBA
October 8, 6 pm
At the Library.
Talking About Books Book Club with Athens poet laureate Mikhayla Robinson-Smith facilitating
October 16, 10:30 am
At the Library.
After the End Book Club with facilitator Sean Polite
October 17, 7 pm
Hybrid
Clarke Central High School Parents Book Club with facilitator Megan Gauley
October 22, 6 pm
At the Library
Community Events
Family Day: Coming Home
November 9, 10am-12pm
Georgia Museum of Art
Join us in this free, family-oriented event celebrating Coming Home. Little Characters Theater Troupe will perform scenes from the featured book “Show Way” by Jacqueline Woodson. The event will also include interactive art cart activities, a quilting demonstration by local artist Beatrice Brown and a take-home art project. Visit the GMOA website for more details!
NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.