“United Way of Hall County is honored to be chosen as an NEA Big Read grant recipient. This is a wonderful opportunity to come together for one shared learning experience and gain knowledge about perspectives that may be different from our own lives.”
The NEA Big Read offers a range of titles that reflect many different voices and perspectives, aiming to inspire meaningful conversations, artistic responses and new discoveries and connections in each community. The main feature of the initiative is a grants program, managed by Arts Midwest, which annually supports dynamic community reading programs, each designed around a single NEA Big Read selection.
United Way of Hall County is one of 62 organizations nationwide selected to receive a 2023-2024 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Big Read grant. This grant will support a community reading program focusing on the novel Infinite County by Patricia Engel, with a variety of events planned from September 2023 through May 2024. NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest, which broadens understanding of the world, our community, and ourselves through the power of a shared reading experience.
UPCOMING NEA BIG READ EVENTS
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Meet Patricia Engel, author of Infinite Country
United Way of Hall County is excited to have received an NEA Big Read grant, which will bring author Patricia Engel to Gainesville to discuss her novel Infinite Country on September 11 at 6 PM at the Hall County Library Main Branch. This will be the first in a series of events and activities that will supplement community book discussions of the novel, which is the tale of one family and two countries, and the journey of immigrants as they navigate their circumstances.
This event is free and open to the public.
Attendants will recieve their own copy of Patricia’s book. Copies of Infinite Country are free while supplies last.
Email tsnowden@unitedwayofhallcounty.org to schedule book pickup.For more information on Patricia Engel, please visit www.pandelectures.com.
○ Twitter: https://twitter.com/patricia_engel (@patricia_engel)
○ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patriciaengel
○ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patricia__engel/ https://twitter.com/patricia_engel (@patricia_engel)
○ Website: https://patriciaengel.com/
Patricia Engel is the author of the recently published story collection The Faraway World. Her novel Infinite Country was an instant New York Times Bestseller, a Washington Post Notable Book of the Year, a Reese's Book Club, Esquire Book Club and Book of the Month Club pick, an Indie Next pick and an Amazon Best Book of the Year in addition to being a 2023 National Endowment for the Arts Big Read. Infinite Country is the winner of the New American Voices Award, was a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.
Her other acclaimed and award-winning books include The Veins of the Ocean, which won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and was named a New York Times Editors’ Choice and a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year; It’s Not Love, It’s Just Paris, which won the International Latino Book Award, and Vida, winner of a Florida Book Award, International Latino Book Award and Independent Publisher Book Award. For Vida, Patricia was the first woman to be awarded Colombia’s national prize in literature, the 2017 Premio Biblioteca de Narrativa Colombiana.
Born to Colombian parents, Patricia is a graduate of New York University and earned her MFA at Florida International University. She is an Associate Professor in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Miami.
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Poetry Slam & Story Telling at The Arts Council
Flyer for Poetry Slam & Story Telling Event
Join United Way of Hall County at The Arts Council as community members express their immigration experiences or respectful responses to immigration through poetry and storytelling.
Suggested topic is immigration.
This event is part of the NEA Big Read in association with the National Endowment of the Arts and Arts Midwest. The NEA Big Read is a community read event focused on Infinite Country by Patricia Engel. If you would like a copy of Infinite Country, please contact Teigha Snowden at tsnowdent@unitedwayhallcounty.org.
Place: The Arts Council, 331 Spring St SW, Gainesville, GA
When: February 24, 2024
Time: Doors open at 11:30. Poetry & Storytelling from 12-1:30
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Writer's Workshop hosted by NEGA Writer's Association
Join us for an exciting in-person event at the Hall County Library Downtown in Gainesville, GA, USA.
We're bringing together a diverse group of individuals to share experiences of migration and fostering community fellowship within Hall County. The workshop aims to encourage attendees to join us & listen as a panel of writers express their personal journeys and experiences through various writing styles like journaling, memoir, documentary, or poetry, and to provide resources for sharing and potentially publishing their works!
Spanish interpreters will be available, and handouts will be translated in advance.
What To Expect
- 1:00 PM - 1:15 PM: Introductions and meet and greet
- 1:15 PM - 2:20 PM: Panelists presentations
- 2:20 PM - 2:35 PM: Break with light refreshments
- 2:35 PM - 3:40 PM: Writing exercise
- 3:40 PM - 4:00 PM: Group share, survey, and wrap-up
This workshop is an excellent opportunity for community members to engage in creative writing and storytelling, and to connect with others through shared experiences.
This event is co-sponsored by the Hall County Library, United Way, and Northeast Georgia Writers Association.
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Watch Under the Same Moon
Join us at The Arts Council to watch Under the Same Moon: Single mother Rosario (Kate del Castillo) leaves her young son Carlitos (Adrian Alonso) in the care of his grandmother and illegally crosses the border into the U.S. Though she hopes to eventually make a better life for herself and her son, she toils in a dead-end job as a cleaning lady in Los Angeles. When Carlitos' grandmother passes away some years later, the boy begins a difficult and dangerous journey to join her.
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Join a Discussion of Infinite Country
Hall County Library will offer a discussion group on Infinite Country on September 7. If you are interested in having your own book discussion, contact tsnowden@untiedwayhallcounty.org for more details. Free copies of Infinite Country are available at United Way of Hall County.