Deschutes Public Library received a $3,000 grant from the American Library Association (ALA) the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to host Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War, a five-part reading discussion series. The library is one of 65 public libraries nationwide receiving grants to host the series which will encourage participants to consider the legacy of the Civil War emancipation. The series kicks off in January concludes in March.

“The Civil War takes us back to a time in American history when civility ruptured the nation split in two,” said Jim Leach, chairman of NEH.  “The sesquicentennial of the Civil War emancipation is an occasion for America to reflect together about the causes ramifications of our greatest internal conflict, a most appropriate way for ‘us the living’ to renew the American spirit in these still-troubled times.”

In addition to program funding, the library will receive copies of the following works:

March by Geraldine Brooks (Penguin, 2006)

Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam by James McPherson (Oxford University Press, 2002)

America’s War: Talking About the  Civil War Emancipation on Their 150th Anniversaries, a forthcoming anthology of historical fiction, speeches, diaries, memoirs, biography, short stories, edited by national project scholar Edward L. Ayers co-published by NEH ALA.

Annemarie Hamlin will lead the series book discussions. Hamlin, an assistant professor at Central Oregon Community College, teaches writing literature. She holds a Ph.D. in literature from the Claremont Graduate School taught for more than ten years at La Sierra University in Riverside, California before moving to Bend in 2007.

Info: www.deschuteslibrary.org or Liz Goodrich at 541-312-1032.