Let's Talk About It

The ALA Public Programs Office, in collaboration with the Fetzer Institute's Campaign for Love & Forgiveness, is now accepting applications for Let's Talk About It: Love & Forgiveness, a theme-based reading and discussion program. Complete application information, including program guidelines and reading lists, can be found at http://www.ala.org/letstalk. The deadline for applications is July 15.

Let's Talk About It: Love and Forgiveness will follow the well-established ALA reading and discussion series format "Let's Talk About It," using classic and contemporary literature to explore stimulating and relevant themes. Project themes and books were chosen by national project scholar Betty Sue Flowers, Ph.D., director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum and former Kelleher professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin.
Following a competitive application process, 30 public libraries will be selected to receive:

• A grant of $2,500, to be used to support program costs and scholar honoraria.
• Program materials, which include introductory literature and essays on each of the themes, selections for additional reading and template promotional materials.
• 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.

Successful applicants will be notified of their status by the end of August. For more information on Let's Talk About It: Love & Forgiveness, visit http://www.ala.org/letstalk or http://www.loveandforgive.org/.

Let's Talk About It is a reading and book discussion program model launched on a nationwide level for libraries by ALA in 1982. The program model involves reading a common series of books selected by a nationally known scholar, and discussing them in the context of a larger, overarching theme. Reading and discussion groups explore the theme through the lens of the humanities--that is, by relating the readings to historical trends and events, other works of literature, philosophical and ethical considerations. Visit the Let's Talk About It archives.