Marathon Reading is a yearly program put on by the UCLA department of English, where a group of students, faculty, community members, alumni, and often even celebrities read a novel (or two) out loud non-stop for a 24-hour period.
Texas Tech University also hosts an annual marathon reading, coordinated by Dr. Rich Rice, Assistant Professor of English. Other higher-learning institutions that put on annual marathon readings include James Madison College at Michigan State University, Cleveland State University, Grand Valley State University, and Ball State University, Dr. Rice's doctoral alma mater.
The New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts hosts an annual nonstop reading aloud of Moby-Dick, the novel by Herman Melville. Held each January since 1995, the event marks the anniversary of Melville’s 1841 departure from the Port of New Bedford and Fairhaven aboard the whale ship Acushnet. Hundreds attend the approximately 25-hour multimedia event, which is live-streamed on the Internet.
Famous quotes containing the words marathon and/or reading:
“The mountains look on Marathon—
And Marathon looks on the sea;
And musing there an hour alone,
I dreamed that Greece might still be free;
For standing on the Persians’ grave,
I could not deem myself a slave.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“I have not placed reading before praying because I regard it more important, but because, in order to pray aright, we must understand what we are praying for.”
—Angelina Grimké (1805–1879)