Activities will take place Oct. 16 – Nov. 30, 2012. Referred to as “a book club on steroids,” The Big Read encourages local organizers to select a book to read, discuss, and enjoy together as a community. Highlights from this year’s Big Read include a 24-hour read-a-thon, film screenings, art exhibits, a performance by the nationally acclaimed Capitol Steps, and Bridgeport Cluefest, a downtown sca
venger hunt. All Big Read events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted. About Fahrenheit 451 and Ray Bradbury:
Published in 1953 during the early years of McCarthyism, Fahrenheit 451 sounds a prophetic and chilling warning of a future America. Bradbury takes the materials of pulp fiction and transforms them into a visionary parable of a society gone awry, in which firemen burn books and the government suppresses learning. Meanwhile, the citizenry sits by in a drug-induced and media-saturated indifference. More relevant than ever a half-century later, Fahrenheit 451 has achieved the rare distinction of being both a literary classic and a perennial bestseller. Bradbury died on June 6, 2012 at age 91. Some of UB’s partners for The Big Read include the Bridgeport Board of Education, The Barnum Museum, Bridgeport Arts + Cultural Council, City Lights Gallery, Cox Media Group, Hearst Media Group, the Bridgeport Public Library, Downtown Special Services District, The Klein, WPKN, the Bijou Theatre, and WSHU.
