CARBONDALE — The idea is to get everyone in the valley on the same page — or at least in the same book — for a month.
With that in mind, the Aspen Writers’ Foundation kicked off its Big Read project on Friday, handing out copies of “Bless Me, Última,” a novel by New Mexico Chicano author Rudolfo Anaya.
If Spanish is your native language, that’s OK. Anaya wrote the book in Spanish, too, as “Bendíceme, Última.”
“We thought, ‘Let’s do something that shows the real diversity of this valley,’” said Lisa Consiglio, executive director of the Aspen Writers’ Foundation. “There was just no doubt in my mind that we should do ‘Bless Me, Última.’”
The Big Read is a National Endowment for the Arts program intended to spur an entire community of readers, especially readers who haven’t picked up a book for a while, to dive in to the same book at the same time.
Aided by an NEA grant, the Aspen Writers’ Foundation worked with schools, book clubs, religious groups, bookstores and libraries from Aspen to Carbondale to get the book in the hands of as many people as possible.
Through May 5 — that’s Cinco de Mayo — readers will be flipping through the pages and discussing the coming-of-age tale of a New Mexico girl growing up with her grandmother, a traditional Mexican mystical healer.
Ironically, the book meant to bring communities together was once a source of division. When it was first published in 1972, said author Luis Alberto Urrea, for whom Anaya was a mentor, the sharply Leftist Chicano movement saw it as a feel-good novel that didn’t advance its political agenda.
For those who can’t afford them, free books are available at Alpine Banks, libraries in Aspen, Basalt, Carbondale and Glenwood Springs, the Carbondale Council on Arts & Humanities, Colorado Mountain College campuses and the Rubey Park Transportation Center in Aspen.
Books are available for check-out or purchase at the Aspen Book Store; the Book Train in Glenwood Springs; Explore Booksellers in Aspen; Novel Tea in Carbondale; Through the Looking Glass in Glenwood Springs; Town Center Booksellers in Basalt and valley libraries.
For more information, including a complete schedule, go to www.aspenwriters.org.
dfrey@aspendailynews.com
