Congratulations to Diane Wilson, Elizabeth Rush, Leigh Newman and Diane Cook!
Their books will be included in this years NEA Big Read.
From The National Endowment for the Arts:
Applications are open for the NEA Big Read, a national program that offers matching grants of up to $20,000 to support community-wide reading programs. This year, we’re excited to introduce a new theme, “Our Nature: How Our Physical Environment Can Lead Us to Seek Hope, Courage, and Connection.”
“The new theme, ‘Our Nature,’ takes us in so many fascinating directions worth exploring, and these 22 titles are perfect jumping-off places,” said Amy Stolls, the NEA’s literary arts director. “The authors reflect on what we endure, what nourishes us, what once was and what might be in prose and poetry that sings, surprises us, opens our hearts, and makes us laugh.”
The Intent to Apply deadline is January 23, 2025. Visit Arts Midwest’s website for complete grant guidelines and to apply.
The 2025-2026 NEA Big Read book selections showcase a wide range of genres, perspectives, and geographic regions:
- Bewilderment (novel) by Richard Powers
- Bite by Bite (memoir) by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
- Blackfish City (novel) by Sam J. Miller
- Fuzz (nonfiction) by Mary Roach
- I Cheerfully Refuse (novel) by Leif Enger
- In the Distance (novel) by Hernan Diaz
- In the Field Between Us (poetry) by Molly McCully Brown and Susannah Nevison
- Lone Women (novel) by Victor LaValle
- The New Wilderness (novel) by Diane Cook
- Nobody Gets Out Alive (short stories) by Leigh Newman
- North Woods (novel) by Daniel Mason
- The Quickening (nonfiction) by Elizabeth Rush
- The Seed Keeper (novel) by Diane Wilson
- You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World (poetry anthology) edited by Ada Limon
- An American Sunrise (poetry) by Joy Harjo
- The Bear (novel) by Andrew Krivak
- Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude (poetry) by Ross Gay
- The Grapes of Wrath (novel) by John Steinbeck
- The House on Mango Street (novel) by Sandra Cisneros
- Lab Girl (memoir) by Hope Jahren
- Their Eyes Were Watching God (novel) by Zora Neale Hurston
- When the Emperor Was Divine (novel) by Julie Otsuka
Application Information:
The NEA Big Read is a reading program that brings communities together around the theme “Our Nature,” using one of 22 available books as inspiration. The program invites nonprofit arts organizations, universities, libraries, museums, school districts, and tribal governments to apply.
- Visit Arts Midwest’s website for complete guidelines and what information is required to apply.
- Register your organization in Arts Midwest’s SmartSimple grant portal
- Intent to Apply deadline: January 23, 2025. Arts Midwest will confirm applicant eligibility and forward to the application stage.
- Full application deadline: January 30, 2025
