Apply by April 19 to receive “Let’s Talk About It: The Civil War” program grant

The ALA Public Programs Office and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) are now accepting applications for “Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War,” a reading and discussion program in America’s libraries. Public libraries are invited to apply online through April 19 by visiting www.ala.org/civilwarprograms. Just in time to commemorate the Civil War sesquicentennial, “Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War” follows the popular Let’s Talk About It model, which engages participants in discussion of a set of common texts selected by a nationally known scholar for their relevance to a larger, overarching theme. Funding for this program was provided by a grant from NEH to the ALA Public Programs Office. In June, 50 public libraries will be selected to host the reading and discussion series and receive support materials from NEH and ALA. The program grant includes: • A $2,500 grant from NEH to support program-related expenses. • Twenty-five sets of three titles: including “March” by Geraldine Brooks (Penguin, 2006), “Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam” by James McPherson (Oxford University Press, 2002) and a forthcoming Civil War anthology of historical fiction, speeches, diaries, memoirs, biography, and short stories, edited by national project scholar Edward L. Ayers and co-published by NEH and ALA. • Promotional materials, including posters, bookmarks and folders, to support local audience recruitment efforts. • Training for the library project director at a national workshop, where they will hear from the project scholar, expert librarians and organizers and receive a program planning guide, materials and ideas. “Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War” is supported by NEH’s We the People initiative, which aims to stimulate and enhance the teaching, study and understanding of American history and culture. More information including project guidelines and the online application are available at www.ala.org/civilwarprograms. ****************************** ALA Public Programs Office www.ala.org/publicprograms publicprograms@ala.org