The Library is excited to be a partner with the U.S. Marshals Museum for the NEA Big Read this March and April.  The museum and its community partners will host a series of engaging programs and events centered around this year's selected book, The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir, written by Kao Kalia Yang. The book chronicles the story of a family’s post-Vietnam War journey from Southeast Asia to the United States, similar to what many families in the River Valley area experienced coming to Fort Smith through Fort Chaffee after the Vietnam War. 

The Fort Smith Public Library is offering several programs for the community in conjunction with The Big Read event.  Big Read Storytimes, focusing on our Hmong and Vietnamese roots in our community, will be held at all FSPL locations in March.  The Miller Branch Library's  hoopla Book Club  will discuss The Latehomecomer at their monthly meeting on Tuesday, March 25th at 2:00 PM. The Genealogy Department at the Main Library will host a Creative Writing Workshop, focusing on keeping our history alive through writing and storytelling, on Saturday, April 26th at 10:00 AM.

Copies of The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir, by Kao Kalia Yang are available for checkout at the library, the eBook  is available on hoopla, and the audiobook is available on Libby/Library2Go.  

For a complete list of NEA Big Read community events, visit the U.S. Marshals Museum webpage. 

The National Endowment for the Arts Big Read is designed to help our nation broaden understanding of ourselves, our communities, and our world - all through reading the same book.  The U.S. Marshals Museum is a recipient of an NEA Big Read grant for Spring 2025. The NEA Big Read hopes to build strong community connections by creating conversations with a variety of perspectives. NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.

We hope you'll join us throughout March and April as we explore our community's history through NEA Big Read: The Latehomecomer!