Live to Read Selection to be Distributed Free at Local Libraries

Don't Miss the Chance to Pick Up a Copy

The first annual Live to Read is coming to a close, but don't let that stop you from picking up a copy of this year's selection, Ruined by Lynn Nottage, a Pulitzer Prize winning play about life in the war-ravaged  Democratic Republic of the Congo. The play, based on Nottage's own travels through the region, is an eye-opening and often brutal account of the atrocities that can occur when corruption and violence rule in place of law and reason. Despite the suffering of her characters and the weight of her subject, Nottage manages to weave humor and familiarity into the narrative, making for an engrossing read, and a stunning theatrical production. The memory of the story lingers long after leaving the theater or putting down the book.

Copies of the Dramatist Play Service version of the book will be available throughout the week (first come first served) at the Anacostia Neighborhood Library, the Dorothy I. Height/Benning Library, the MLK Memorial Library, the Southwest Neighborhood Library, and the Tenley-Friendship Library.

Live to Read is Washington, DC's city-wide celebration of literature. This year's selected work of literature is Ruined, a Pulitzer Prize-winning play written by Lynn Nottage. The play is currently running at Arena Stage.

Live to Read Partners Stage Poetry Workshop

Read One Participant's Powerful Work

As part of the first annual Live to Read, the Humanities Council, Split This Rock Poetry, and Beltway Poetry Quarterly held a creative writing workshop called "Breaking the Silence." The program mirrored the themes of Lynn Nottage's Ruined, this year's Live to Read literature selection. The event received great feedback from the participants including the following note from Brenda Bunting. Thank you, Brenda, for allowing us to feature your work!

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"I very much enjoyed the Breaking the Silence Workshop. It was invaluable to me as a poet/writer and sexual abuse survivor. Here is the poem I wrote from the workshop. I hope you will add it to the blog."

-Brenda Bunting

Wreaked
My clothes are neatly folded blood spattered
soaked with semen and dried by the sun
In daylight I walk darkly stiff sore afraid
To go to the hospital fearful of the police
Officer Vicious visited my home last night
Told me to be quiet so I will be silent until
I realize it was my fault only then I get to speak
I will sleep in the same bed I was raped in
I will smile at my children and continue to care
I will excel at the college do my homework
and look forward to graduation
I will not go to the Rape Crisis Center
I will not go to any physician or doctor
I will pretend this never happened until
I believe it never happened.


Live to Read is Washington, DC's city-wide celebration of literature. This year's selected work of literature is Ruined, a Pulitzer Prize-winning play written by Lynn Nottage. The play is currently running at Arena Stage. Next week, the Humanities Council and the DC Public Library will distribute copies of the book at selected libraries. The Humanities Council encourages all Washingtonians to read and discuss the play.