Please contact CaCera Richmond
Project Coordinator
601-212-7506
lrichmon@olemiss.edu
October 1, 2008
Celebrities and 6th graders Write Book Together
A star like Parker Posey and a 6th grader are writing a book together? It is the hope of Yoknapatawhpa Arts Council (YAC) and the Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library in their new project to raise awareness about the literature & literacy. Celebrities, students, and citizens of Oxford, MS are being invited to become authors when they participate in Southern Sketches, a project hosted by the Arts Council. Participants will receive a page of a book containing a beginning and ending sentence. They will then fill in details of the story and autograph the bottom of their page. The pages will be combined to form a book whose story is about a fledgling author who is obsessed with the hope of finding the missing manuscript of William Faulkner’s last novel.
“We hope that by giving children the opportunity to write with celebrities it will encourage them to become readers and learn about the rich literary heritage of the region,” states YAC director Wayne Andrews. A study highlighted that the biggest challenge in fighting illiteracy is when young children come from a home where people don’t read and reading materials from are not in the house. The celebrity connection in this project is designed to get the family interested in the children’s desire to read transforming the family into readers.
The Arts Council has started asking a diverse range of celebrities to complete a page of the story. “We are asking authors, actors, civic leaders, and musicians.” shared project coordinator CaCera Richmond. “ The idea has generated a lot of interest especially from small publishers located in the Southern United States.” The project calls for duplicate pages to be distributed so that several versions of the book will be created and auctioned off to support the Arts Council and Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library. The book is designed to contain twenty five pages offering a point of view of Oxford, MS from various backgrounds, ages, and status. Most important, the council hopes it gives the children of Oxford the chance to be apart of a once in a lifetime opportunity that will start a lasting habit of reading.
Established in 1975, the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council is the official arts agency for Lafayette County and the City of Oxford. The YAC is a non-profit organization that is committed to bringing diverse and extraordinary artistic and cultural opportunities to the community and artist of the region. The arts council’s partner in the project The Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library serves the community with it’s extensive book collection in addition to adult and children’s programs.
To learn more about the project or to find out how you can submit a page contact the Arts council at 662-236-6429 or by email at yacoperations@gmail.com
Project Coordinator
601-212-7506
lrichmon@olemiss.edu
October 1, 2008
Celebrities and 6th graders Write Book Together
A star like Parker Posey and a 6th grader are writing a book together? It is the hope of Yoknapatawhpa Arts Council (YAC) and the Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library in their new project to raise awareness about the literature & literacy. Celebrities, students, and citizens of Oxford, MS are being invited to become authors when they participate in Southern Sketches, a project hosted by the Arts Council. Participants will receive a page of a book containing a beginning and ending sentence. They will then fill in details of the story and autograph the bottom of their page. The pages will be combined to form a book whose story is about a fledgling author who is obsessed with the hope of finding the missing manuscript of William Faulkner’s last novel.
“We hope that by giving children the opportunity to write with celebrities it will encourage them to become readers and learn about the rich literary heritage of the region,” states YAC director Wayne Andrews. A study highlighted that the biggest challenge in fighting illiteracy is when young children come from a home where people don’t read and reading materials from are not in the house. The celebrity connection in this project is designed to get the family interested in the children’s desire to read transforming the family into readers.
The Arts Council has started asking a diverse range of celebrities to complete a page of the story. “We are asking authors, actors, civic leaders, and musicians.” shared project coordinator CaCera Richmond. “ The idea has generated a lot of interest especially from small publishers located in the Southern United States.” The project calls for duplicate pages to be distributed so that several versions of the book will be created and auctioned off to support the Arts Council and Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library. The book is designed to contain twenty five pages offering a point of view of Oxford, MS from various backgrounds, ages, and status. Most important, the council hopes it gives the children of Oxford the chance to be apart of a once in a lifetime opportunity that will start a lasting habit of reading.
Established in 1975, the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council is the official arts agency for Lafayette County and the City of Oxford. The YAC is a non-profit organization that is committed to bringing diverse and extraordinary artistic and cultural opportunities to the community and artist of the region. The arts council’s partner in the project The Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library serves the community with it’s extensive book collection in addition to adult and children’s programs.
To learn more about the project or to find out how you can submit a page contact the Arts council at 662-236-6429 or by email at yacoperations@gmail.com
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