AUTHOR OF '451' COMING TO TOWN PART OF 'THE BIG READ,' BRADBURY TALKS SUNDAY.

Byline: SHARON COTAL

Staff Writer

Author Ray Bradbury will appear in Santa Clarita on Sunday as part of local libraries' participation in a National Endowment for the Arts program designed to encourage reading.

Bradbury's 1953 novel "Fahrenheit 451" has been selected for inclusion in the endowment's "The Big Read" program, which encourages reading of literature by asking communities to come together to read and discuss a book.

In an e-mail sent from his home in Los Angeles, the 86-year-old Bradbury said he was excited to learn "Fahrenheit 451" had been selected and was looking forward to visiting Santa Clarita.

"I was tremendously excited, of course, because over the years most authors, including myself, do not get that many reviews. But to have this acknowledged by the people in Washington is wonderful," Bradbury said. "You can imagine that I was very excited, and this excitement continues with my trip to Santa Clarita."

"Fahrenheit 451" tells the story of futuristic firefighter Guy Montag, whose job is not to put out fires but to start them to burn books, which are illegal contraband. The public, addicted to wall-size TV screens, tiny earphones and drugs, makes little protest over the destruction of reading material since most people stopped reading long ago.

Bradbury may have been writing 50 years ago, but many of the technological devices described in "Fahrenheit 451" are similar to products in use today. And a 2004 endowment study titled "Reading at Risk" showed that literary reading in the United States is in steep decline.

To encourage more reading amid the variety of diversions, Bradbury recommends teachers try to instill a love for reading when children are young.

"One of the problems is that we're so bombarded with all this information from all kinds of devices. How can we combat that? It's up to the teachers because during the last 30 years or so, we haven't prepared children to read and write soon enough," he said.

"We should begin the process when they're 4 or 5 years old, so that by the time they reach the first grade they know how to read and write."

Bradbury will discuss this issue and others during his visit. He also plans to emphasize the importance of libraries.

"When you meet a great lover like me, you meet someone who has loved libraries all of his life," he said.

If you go

Author Ray Bradbury will discuss his book "Fahrenheit 451" from 6 to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Santa Clarita Sports Complex, 20880 Centre Pointe Parkway, Canyon Country. For a complete list of events for "The Big Read-Santa Clarita Valley," visit www.thebigread- scv.org.

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IF YOU GO (see text)