September 24, 2007
For Immediate Release
For an interview:
Michael Freeman
UVSC Library
(801) 863-8751
Lori Stevens
Orem Public Library
(801) 229-7385
The UVSC Library will host Sunil Iyengar, director of the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) Office of Research and Analysis, Thursday, September 27 at 2 p.m. in room 213 B of the Sorensen Student Center. Iyengar will be speaking about reading and literacy.
Iyengar’s lecture is part of a celebration of “My Antonia” by Willa Cather. Orem is one of nearly 200 communities nationwide participating in the Big Read, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The NEA presents the Big Read in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. The Big Read brings together partners across the country to encourage reading for pleasure and enlightenment.
In the wake of the NEA’s 2004 report, Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America, Iyengar is conducting follow-up research on American reading habits, and manages a national evaluation project for the Big Read. Prior to joining the NEA in June 2006, he worked successively as a reporter, managing editor and senior editor for a series of news publications. His book reviews have appeared in publications such as The Washington Post, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The American Scholar, The New Criterion, and Contemporary Poetry Review.
The Big Read in Orem is presented by the Orem Public Library with support from the Utah Valley State College Library and the Utah Humanities Council.
Iyengar’s lecture at UVSC is free and open to the public.
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