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Since January, Lighthouse Writers Workshop has been celebrating literature, keying off The Big Read , a National Endowment for the Arts program designed to encourage people to read for pleasure — not because they have to — and this year highlighting Marilynne Robinson’s novel Housekeeping. Denver has joined 77 other communities in hosting readings, parties and contests, and the winners of Denver’s Big Read contest were just announced.
Several of the winning pieces will be featured during the Vagabond Happy Hour on Friday, April 25, the finale to this year’s project.
See also: J. Diego Frey’s Pocketbucket Lists: Get a slice at Lighthouse Writers Workshop
Nick Arvin, who wrote Articles of War after studying with Marilynne Robinson in 2001, will speak at the Vagabond Happy Hour. The free event, which will run from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at Su Teatro, will also feature Kellen Zubick reading from her poem “Sisters” and Tessa Cheek reading her essay “The Dry Sea.” The two winners of the youth contest — high schooler Leah Johnson and middle schooler Aiyana Spear — will read their work as well. Top entries from the photography contest, judged by photographer Mark Sink, will also be on display.
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Robinson’s book follows two foster sisters who bounced around to different relatives; their story is about growing up together, and then apart. The contest called for writers and artists to offer variations on that theme.
“We narrowed down the submissions in-house through our staff and then had guest judges choose the winners,” says Kristin Pazulski, communications manager for Lighthouse Writers Workshop, which took over when the city ended its One Book, One Denver program.
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