Library Gets Grant for ‘Poetry & Memory’ Event in October

SOUTHEAST READS–McAlester Public Library has been awarded an $850 grant from the Oklahoma Humanities Council for a special event in October,  part of Southeast Reads, a literary program by the libraries of the Southeastern Public Library System of Oklahoma. Similar to The Big Read, Southeast Reads will focus on a single book, Karen Hesse’s Newbery Award-winning Depression-era novel Out of the Dust. Ann Thompson, OHC executive director, awarded the check to Head Librarian Christine Sauro for the Oct. 25 event, Poetry and Memory: Restoring Broken Connections. The event will examine the free verse poetry of Hesse’s novel, the poetry of McAlester native John Berryman on his 100th birthday anniversary and other poems that evoke memory. Dr. Kenneth Hada, director of the Scissortail Creative Writing Festival and winner of the National Western Heritage Award for poetry, will be a featured speaker. Local people giving poetry readings will also be featured throughout the day-long event. This program is funded in part by the OHC and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of OHC or NEH. Other library events during Southeast Reads will include online book discussions, a Shirley Temple film festival, a special screening of Ken Burns’ The Dust Bowl, and four weeks of local Depression-era history programs called History at High Noon.