DMPL To Take Part in Ray Bradbury Read-A-Thon

The Des Moines Public Library and the DMPL Foundation will be taking part in the Ray Bradbury Read-A-Thon, premiering this Saturday. You will be able to watch it HERE.

More than 40 public libraries and a handful of celebrities are participating in this project, which celebrates the 100th anniversary of author Ray Bradbury's birth. The Read-A-Thon will feature a streamed reading of Bradbury's classic novel Fahrenheit 451. Among the celebrities taking part are authors Neil Gaiman, Susan Orlean, and Marlon James, as well as actors William Shatner, and Rachel Bloom.

The Des Moines Public Library and DMPL Foundation will be represented by Joseph Jones, a member of the Des Moines Public Library Foundation Board of Directors. Jones recorded a reading of a section of the book earlier this summer. His portion was edited together with those from the other readers, creating a seamless reading of Fahrenheit 451 in its entirety that runs about five-and-a-half hours.

Click here to see Jones' section

Libraries were an important part of Bradbury's life, and it's fitting that so many libraries are taking part in this celebration. As Bradbury once said in a 2002 interview, "I didn’t go to college, but when I graduated from high school I went down to the local library and I spent ten years there, two or three days a week, and I got a better education than most people get from universities. So I graduated from the library when I was twenty-eight years old."

The Read-A-Thon premiered on August 22, at 3:30 PM. It will be able to be viewed for two weeks, until Saturday, September 5.

It takes place as the Des Moines Public Library continues to prepare for NEA Big Read: Des Moines next year. As part of a federal grant, the library will be hosting a series of programs, panel discussions, book clubs, and community activities centered on Fahrenheit 451 and its themes. More information will be available about Big Read in the upcoming months. To learn more, head over to our NEA Big Read: Des Moines page.