The five American Corners in Armenia – in Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor, Charentsavan, and Kapan – came together April 8 to mark the National Library Week with a reading marathon of Peter Balakyan’s award winning memoir “Black Dog of Fate.”
Dozens of community leaders, literary figures, library patrons, and students joined the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Lynne Tracy in reading the book. Readers took turns reading for five minutes each, in English or Armenian.
The U.S. Embassy has organized the reading marathon every year starting 2016, in coordination with the American Corners and 30 libraries across Armenia, to mark the U.S. National Library Week. The book read included “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain; “The Human Comedy” by William Saroyan; “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle; “The Martian Chronicles” by Ray Bradbury; “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee and “Wonder” by R.J. Palacio.
The Reading Marathon objectives are to showcase U.S. literature and promote the work of our American Corners. Prominent local readers take turns reading throughout the day. The event is broadcast on our YouTube channel in its entirety, and we will also broadcast different segments live on Facebook.
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The U.S. National Library Week is celebrated April 3-9, 2022. The theme for the National Library Week this year is: “Connect with Your Library.” It promotes the idea that libraries are places to get connected to technology but also offer opportunities to connect with media, programs, ideas, and classes—in addition to books. Most importantly libraries also connect communities to each other.
