NEA BIG READ
"Where We Live"
In the Spring of 2025 Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum, in partnership with Humanities Washington and HistoryLink, will host our first National Endowment for the Arts Big Read.
The National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with Arts Midwest, aims to spark conversations, celebrate creativity, and strengthen community connections through a variety of activities across libraries and cultural centers, centered around a single book. Folio is one of 62 organizations awarded a grant to host an NEA Big Read in 2024-2025.
This year’s selection is The Cold Millions by Jess Walter,
The theme "Where We Live" emphasizes the Pacific Northwest. Set in Spokane, The Cold Millions provides an opportunity for dialogue between the two major cities of Seattle and Spokane that frame Washington State.
About Jess Walter
A former National Book Award finalist and winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award, Jess Walter is the best-selling author of seven novels, two books of short stories and one nonfiction book. His work has been translated into 34 languages, and his fiction has been selected three times for Best American Short Stories, as well as the Pushcart Prize and Best American Nonrequired Reading. His stories, essays and journalism have appeared in, Harper's, Esquire, Playboy, McSweeney's, Tin House, Ploughshares, the New York Times, the Washington Post and many others.
Walter began his writing career in 1987 as a reporter for his hometown newspaper, The Spokesman-Review. He was a finalist for the 1992 Pulitzer Prize as part of a team covering the shootout and standoff at Ruby Ridge, in Northern Idaho. This became the subject of Walter's first book, Every Knee Shall Bow, in 1995. He has also worked as a screenwriter and has taught graduate creative writing at the University of Iowa, Pacific University, Eastern Washington and Pacific Lutheran.
Walter lives with his wife Anne and children, Brooklyn, Ava and Alec, in Spokane, Washington.
The Cold Millions
Featuring an unforgettable cast of cops and tramps, suffragists and socialists, madams and murderers, The Cold Millions is a tour de force from a “writer who has planted himself firmly in the first rank of American authors” (Boston Globe).
Visit Folio to get your FREE copy of The Cold Millions.
Available February 2025.
An intimate story of brotherhood, love, sacrifice, and betrayal set against the panoramic backdrop of an early twentieth-century America that eerily echoes our own time, The Cold Millions offers a kaleidoscopic portrait of a nation grappling with the chasm between rich and poor, between harsh realities and simple dreams.
The Dolans live by their wits, jumping freight trains and lining up for day work at crooked job agencies. While sixteen-year-old Rye yearns for a steady job and a home, his older brother, Gig, dreams of a better world, fighting alongside other union men for fair pay and decent treatment. Enter Ursula the Great, a vaudeville singer who performs with a live cougar and introduces the brothers to a far more dangerous creature: a mining magnate determined to keep his wealth and his hold on Ursula. Dubious of Gig’s idealism, Rye finds himself drawn to a fearless nineteen-year-old activist and feminist named Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. But a storm is coming, threatening to overwhelm them all, and Rye will be forced to decide where he stands. Is it enough to win the occasional battle, even if you cannot win the war?
Upcoming NEA Big Read Events
Mon, Mar 03Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum- Thu, Mar 06Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum
Mon, Mar 10Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum
Mon, Mar 17Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum
Mon, Mar 24Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum
Tue, Mar 25Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum
Fri, Feb 21Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum
NEA Big Read Writing Contest
This year's NEA Big Read centers around the theme "Where We Live" with a special focus on the landscapes and communities in Washington.
As part of this celebration, Folio’s NEA Big Read contest invites writers to submit an original piece of narrative writing—whether fiction or nonfiction—of up to 2,000 words. Submissions should showcase a strong sense of place, with setting playing a vital role in shaping the story’s atmosphere, themes, or characters.
The winning entry will be published in Spark, the online journal of Humanities Washington, and the author will also receive a gift card to a local bookstore. This is a fantastic opportunity to share your voice, transport readers to a vivid and immersive setting, and celebrate the power of place in storytelling!
Submission Deadline: April 18, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Document: Upload your work below as either a PDF or Word Document.
Word count: Up to 2000 words, include your name and the word count at the top of the document.
Style: All work should be double-spaced and in 12-point Times New Roman or similar font.
Use standard margins and number your pages.
NEA Big Read Partners
HistoryLink.org is the continually evolving online encyclopedia of Washington state history. We provide a free, authoritative, and easily accessible reference for the benefit of all. With a few noted exceptions, all articles on this site are original works prepared exclusively for HistoryLink.org by staff historians, contract writers, volunteers, and consulting experts.
Humanities Washington and its partners create spaces for people to come together to explore and consider what it means to be human, and to reflect on our shared past, present, and future. All Humanities Washington programs are open to the public, and nearly all are free of charge.
