
Mayor John O’Reilly Jr., University of Michigan-Dearborn Chancellor Domenico Grasso, Library Director Maryanne Bartles, Councilwoman Leslie Herrick, and several other city officials, supporters and community members were in attendance to celebrate the launch of the Big Read-Dearborn, which focuses on the book “Lab Girl.” The event took place at the UM-D Environmental Interpretive Center.
DEARBORN – A public event Oct. 14 served as the launch for the Dearborn Public Library’s fourth Big Read program, which will focus on Hope Jahren’s “Lab Girl.”
The memoir tells the story of a young woman who finds friendship in odd places, battles bipolar disorder, perseveres through setbacks and relishes hard-earned triumphs, eventually becoming a respected scientist and passionate observer of the natural world.
Mayor John O’Reilly Jr., University of Michigan-Dearborn Chancellor Domenico Grasso, Library Director Maryanne Bartles, Councilwoman Leslie Herrick, and several other city officials, supporters and community members were in attendance to celebrate the launch of the Big Read. The event took place at the UM-D Environmental Interpretive Center.
“Lab Girl,” published in 2016, quickly earned critical acclaim, being called one of the best books of the year, and is a National Book Critic Circle Award Winner.
The theme of the 2020 Big Read-Dearborn is “The World is Your Lab,” and programming will focus on science and nature. Throughout March and April 2020, there will be many events for the community to participate in, including lectures, films, book discussions, nature walks and other activities centered on STEAM. A kickoff event will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 7 at The Henry Ford Museum.
To put the program together, Dearborn Public Library and the city are partnering with The Henry Ford, the Arab American National Museum, AAUW-Dearborn, the Dearborn Community Fund, Dearborn Public Schools, Artspace, Dearborn Library Foundation, Dearborn Library Commission, Friends of the Library-Dearborn, UM-D Mardigian Library and the Environmental Interpretive Center, Henry Ford College Eshleman Library, Beaumont Medical Library, East and West Dearborn downtown development authorities, Friends of the Rouge, The Dearborn Inn, Green Brain Comics and Dearborn Heights Libraries.
Organizations or businesses interested in participating to help make the Big Read a community-wide experience should contact the library at 313-943-2037.
The Big Read Program is an initiative by the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest that aims to broaden our understanding of our world, communities and ourselves through sharing the joy of a good book.
Dearborn’s first Big Read was focused on “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London in 2013-14, the second was inspired by “Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe” in 2015-16, and the third was centered on “The Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri in 2017-18.
Go to dearbornlibrary.org or bigreaddearborn.org for updates on the 2019-20 Big Read.