NEA Presses US Literature Into Diplomatic Service

“The Big Read Egypt/US will involve reciprocal promotions of three celebrated American writers in Egypt, and just the one Egyptian writer in the States. Naguib Mahfouz’s The Thief and the Dogs will be America’s reading book, while Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath will be the focus of reading groups and other events in Cairo and Alexandria.”