Reading Room is back on Open Field this year with a twist. Instead of—and perhaps in conjunction with—celebrating Bastille Day on July 14th you are warmly invited to read together, in solitude, aloud and/or on a chair for an hour during our Mass Read-In as part of Field of Reads. Field of Reads is an all-day celebration of the creative, community-building, and social act of reading. Last year, Coffee House Press publisher and Open Field 2011 Field Office Fellow Chris Fischbach conceived of Reading Room—a nomadic, scheduled reading event space— as a framework within which one is given permission and actively encouraged to read and to think about reading.
Fischbach told MPR last year, “It’s an experiment. It also puts a frame around the act of reading and, I believe, makes you think not only about the role reading plays in your life, but in the life of a community. You might ask how you read or why.”
Field of Reads will commence at 11 am when Carolyn Payne introduces Little Free Libraries. Between 11 am and midday you are encouraged to bring a book to trade for the Beloved Book Swap. The Mass Read-In on Open Field will take place between noon and 1 pm. From 1 to 3 pm the Hennepin County Library will host Young Literacy Story Time and more!
Readers of all ages welcome, as are books of all size and stature. Follow the whereabouts of Fischbach’s roving Reading Room on his blog. Field of Reads will take place on July 14th from 11 to 5 pm.