For the eighth year in a row, the Toronto Public Library is hosting its month-long Keep Toronto Reading Festival. The festival is essentially a city-wide book club--albeit a book club with thousands of members, its own website, and an entire month of events and readings across the city.
Each year, an entire month of programming is based around just one book.
And in a press conference last Wednesday at Yorkville Fire Station 32, City Librarian Jane Pyper announced this year's selection:
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
The location of the announcement was not insignificant--the Library is co-hosting this year's festival with the Toronto Fire Service.
Fahrenheit 451, set in a dystopian future, features firefighters more interested in burning books than in fighting flames.
"We decided to go with a classic this year, a book you maybe haven't read in a long time, or one you'd always been meaning to read.
Fahrenheit 451 fit that bill perfectly," said City Librarian Jane Pyper at Wednesday's announcement. "It was published in 1953, but is remarkably relevant today. Its depiction of a media-saturated world will resonate with anyone who reads or rereads this small but powerful book."
The festival officially begins in April, and the full event line up will be posted at
keeptorontoreading.ca on March 14.
Throughout the month of April, members of the Fire Service will be guest blogging about the book on the festival website and will be visiting library branches to discuss their favourite books and stories.
Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Toronto Public Library