Welcome to the ACORN Program Website! 

We have some new resources for groups to use in providing background for and discussing The Maltese Falcon.

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Two Important Announcements:

1. EXTRAVAGANZA DATE CHANGE!

TO AVOID A MAJOR SCHEDULE CONFLICT, WE HAVE CHANGED THE DATE OF THIS YEAR’S

ACORN EXTRAVAGANZA

TO

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5^TH, 7-9:30 PM

(Formerly scheduled for Saturday, February 6^th)

We apologize for any inconvenience.

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What: A free screening ofThe Maltese Falcon (1941), starring Humphrey Bogart, for ACORN members and their guests.

When: Saturday, December 5^th Film to start at 7 pm

Where: UWSP Campus,
                     Collins Classroom Center,
                     Room 101

                   







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ACORN (A Chance to Read in Company) is an annual circle of campus and community book groups, sponsored by the English Department at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.  This program is designed to bring together readers from on and off campus, to read and share perspectives on a great work of literature chosen each year by program participants.

The featured book for 2009 will be The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett.  Hammett's third novel (published in 1930), evokes the fallen world of the late 1920's in a lean, spare prose that has become synonymous with the "hard-boiled" style.  The story of an antique treasure at the center of a web of lies, treachery, theft, and murder, this novel portrays the chaos of the modern world as vividly and with as keen a sense of social significance as contemporary works by Faulkner, Hemingway, or Fitzgerald.

Professor David Arnold will lead the October Workshop for book group leaders and other interested participants.

The recommended edition is the Vintage trade-paperback (4th edition: July 17, 1989)

ISBN-10: 0679722645

ISBN-13: 978-0679722649

This edition is on order at Book World and Book Finders in Stevens Point.  Book World will once again offer a 20% discount for "card carrying" ACORN members.  Registration materials will be sent by e-mail and posted on this website by August 15th.  The registration deadline will be September 15, 2009. 

Anyone can register for this program at no charge.  Existing groups can register as groups.  Individuals can register independently and be placed with others to form new groups.   The only cost to participants will be purchasing the book.  ACORN Scholarships provide a free book for persons who would otherwise be unable to participate.