To mark what would have been Ray Bradbury’s 100th birthday on August 22, the Library of Congress, the Los Angeles Public Library and libraries from across the country have teamed up for a virtual ‘read-a-thon’ dedicated to Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.
Actors William Shatner and Rachel Bloom, authors Susan Orlean, Marlon James and Neil Gaiman and dozens more will each introduce or read a portion of the landmark 1953 novel. “Those segments, and a couple of famous guests, will be edited into one continuous reading of the entire book, and will create four hours of thought-provoking entertainment. “Some readers will pick up from their homes, others from their place of residence,” Read-a-Thon organizers said in a statement. The event will premiere on August 22 at 4:30 pm EST on the Ray Bradbury Read-a-Thon site. the four-hour stream will air there again until September 5th.
Fahrenheit 451, a new warning against censorship of thought and knowledge in the form of book burning, was chosen in part because of Bradbury’s own dedication to libraries. ‘I’m all librarian. Libraries are absolutely the center of my life, ”Bradbury once said. “Because I could not afford to go to university, I went to the library three or four days a week from the age of 18, and I studied at the library when I was 28. used to be.
The Read-a-Thon will have segments of Fahrenheit 451 reading from the former Carnegie Library building in Waukegan, Illinois, Bradbury’s own local library. A Pulitzer Prize winner, recipient of the National Medal of Arts and legend of writing sci-fi and horror, Bradbury died in 2012 at the age of 91.
“Fahrenheit 451, a cautious dystopian story about the cost of apathy and the power of curiosity, is one of the most controlled books on libraries in the United States, ‘added organizers. “Readers of the Read-A-Thon will discover this redeeming story – or rediscover it as powerful today as it was when it was first written.”
