Wayne State celebrates Frankenreads

Wayne State is joining hundreds of other institutions to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus (1818)!

The Frankenreads project is being organized by the Keats-Shelley Association of America and is funded by a Chairman's grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The international event is meant to encourage people around the world to organize or participate in events celebrating the novel - especially by conducting public readathons of the entire novel on Halloween Day 2018 and in "Frankenweek," Oct. 24-31, 2018.

Professor Michael Scrivener suggested that Wayne State be involved in the fun, and the English Department is collaborating with Kino Club 313 and the WSU Library's Special Collections to put on a full day of Frankenstein-themed events on the day before Halloween.

The day will kick off with a readathon of the entirety of Frankenstein, beginning at 9 a.m. and continuing until around 6 p.m. Readers will include faculty, staff, students, and guests of the department, and there will be surprise games and prizes throughout the day.

During the readathon, Frankenstein fans can check out a special display organized by the library, featuring thematic texts from the WSU collection.

Following the reading, there will be a break for pizza and then film screenings of Frankenstein (1910) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935), with an introduction by WSU English PhD alum Dr. Peter Marra.