March 10, 2009

The Henry Madden Library at California State University, Fresno is partnering with the Fresno County Library to sponsor events on campus for the 2009 Big Read, featuring Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.”

The Big Read brings together partners across the country to encourage people of all ages to read for pleasure and enlightenment.

The first event will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 12 in the Henry Madden Library Room 2206 (second floor of the building’s north wing). The event will be presented by Dr. Gregg Camfield, a professor of social sciences, humanities and arts at University of California, Merced. His topic is “The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain.”

The second Big Read event at the Fresno State library will be held at 7 p.m. April 15, also in Room 2206, when Victor Fischer’s topic will be “Mark Twain and the West.” Fischer is the curator of the Mark Twain Papers and Project, a working archive of letters, manuscripts, photos and journals at the University of California, Berkeley’s Bancroft Library.

The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest designed to revitalize the role of literature in American culture.

For more information, contact David Tyckoson, associate dean of the Madden Library, at 559.278.5678.