Newsroom
For Immediate Release
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Contact: Peter Golkin 703-228-3346 (voice) 703-228-4611(TTY)
Arlington Reads 2010: Literary Legend, Farmer Wendell Berry
- "The Memory of Old Jack" is featured title
- Berry, urban farmer Novella Carpenter to speak
- Book club kits available
(Note: In an earlier version of this release, the date for Mr. Berry's appearance was incorrectly listed as May 3. The correct date is Tuesday, May 4, 2010.)
ARLINGTON, Va. -- Our food takes center plate this spring as Arlington Reads 2010 looks at the movement away from industrial mass production back to safer, healthier meals grown through local, sustainable means.
Arlington Reads is Arlington Public Library’s annual one-book, one-community initiative to promote discussion and the joy of reading throughout the County. It is made possible through the generous support of the Friends of the Arlington Public Library.
This year’s featured Arlington Reads author—literary legend, essayist, poet and Kentucky farmer Wendell Berry, who declared that “eating is an agricultural act,” — is widely credited with inspiring the “food movement.” Making a rare public appearance, Berry will discuss his life’s work and vision of people honoring and reconnecting with the soil at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 4 at Central Library, 1015 N. Quincy St., Arlington. This special event is free and open to the public.
“Wendell Berry actually began the national conversation about food, agriculture, the environment and health decades ago,” Library Director Diane Kresh said. “Without him, we probably wouldn't have a vegetable garden on the White House lawn or Wal-Mart selling organic produce.”
This year’s Arlington Reads celebrates not only Berry’s “remarkable career as a writer of more than 30 novels, essays and collections of
poetry, but his prescience in encouraging readers to ‘think globally and eat locally,’’ Kresh said.
Join the Discussion
Berry’s classic novel “The Memory of Old Jack” is this year’s featured Arlington Reads title. The book finds truth and integrity in the land through the eyes of an aging farmer in 1952 rural Kentucky. It will be the subject of a community discussion in Central Library Auditorium at 7 p.m. April 19. Leading the exchange will be Professor Patrick Deneen, director of Georgetown University’s Tocqueville Forum on the Roots of American Democracy.
The Library has “The Memory of Old Jack” available in a variety of formats. Copies also have been made available to Library-sponsored book groups.
Novella Carpenter to speak at Central Library
Arlington Reads will feature an appearance by urban farmer and author Novella Carpenter at Central Library at 7 p.m. April 29. Carpenter has re-staged the American agrarian dream in an abandoned Oakland, California lot, raising fruits, vegetables, bees and even pigs and goats in a neighborhood known as “GhostTown.” Her critically acclaimed “Farm City”—featured on “best book lists” from Oprah to the New York Times—spreads the gospel of home-grown food and the empowerment it brings.
While in Arlington, Carpenter also plans to meet with high school students and explore some of the County’s farmers markets and community gardens.
Central Library in April is also the site of a month-long juried art exhibition, “The Art of Food.”
Information on all Arlington Reads 2010 events and offerings including book club kits can be found at www.arlingtonreads2010.wordpress.com. Contact Library spokesman Peter Golkin to arrange interviews with Berry or Carpenter.
Other Arlington Reads events
April 7
Screening of the critically acclaimed documentary “Food, Inc.” 3 p.m. Shirlington Branch Library, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington.
April 11
Panel discussion on “Eating Local.” Area farmers and naturalists will look at simple ways to eat foods that are safer, healthier and geared to the bounty of each season. 3 p.m. Shirlington Branch Library.
April 14
Screening of the ensemble drama “Fast Food Nation,” based on the Eric Schlosser best-seller. 6:30 p.m. Shirlington Branch Library.
April 17
“Work-in-progress” screening of the documentary “A Community of Gardeners,” produced by local filmmaker Cintia Cabib. The film explores the vital role of seven community gardens in Washington, D.C., not only as sources of nutritious food, but as outdoor classrooms, centers of social interaction and oases of beauty and calm in inner-city neighborhoods. The screening will be followed by a Q-and-A session with Cabib. 2 p.m. Central Library Auditorium.
All programs are free and no reservations are necessary.
Arlington, Va., is a world-class residential, business and tourist location that was originally part of the "10 miles square" parcel of land surveyed in 1791 to be the Nation's Capital. It is the geographically smallest self-governing county in the United States, occupying slightly less than 26 square miles. Arlington maintains a rich variety of stable neighborhoods, quality schools and enlightened land use, and received the Environmental Protection Agency's highest award for "Smart Growth" in 2002. Home to some of the most influential organizations in the world - including the Pentagon - Arlington stands out as one of America's preeminent places to live, visit and do business.
