Museum of Glass Big Read Program: Bewilderment
Community Readings & Public Programming
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Big Read broadens our understanding of ourselves and our neighbors through the power of a shared reading experience. The goals of the NEA Big Read are to inspire meaningful conversations, celebrate local creativity, elevate a wide variety of voices and perspectives, and build stronger connections in each community. Participating organizations choose a book from the 24 titles available in the NEA Big Read Library. Museum of Glass is one recipient of a NEA Big Read grant, and chose the novel Bewilderment by Richard Powers. See below for the Museum’s free public programs centered around Bewilderment.
Sequential Community Reading of Bewilderment
In conjunction with the Big Read program, Museum of Glass, along with community partners, will host community readings of Bewilderment. These readings will be presented by professional actors and followed by facilitated Q&As. These events are free and open to the public. No preregistration is required but please check in at the front desk of each hosting organization and indicate you are there for Big Reads programming. See below for each reading date and location.
April 11, 2026 | 4-6pm | Museum of Glass Grand Hall
Section 1, pages 1-44, moderated by Dr. Steven Neshyba, University of Puget Sound
April 18, 2026 | 12:30-1:30pm | University of Puget Sound (Tacoma Climate Change Justice Symposium)
Section 2, pages 45-92, moderated by artist Joseph Rossano
April 18, 2026 | 4-6pm | Point Defiance Zoo Environmental Learning Center
Section 2, pages 45-92, moderated by artist Joseph Rossano
April 25, 2026 | 4-6pm | University of Puget Sound, Wheelock Student Center Rotunda
Section 3, pages 93-135, moderated by Dr. Alisun Thompson, University of Puget Sound
May 2, 2026 | 4-6pm | University Place Pierce County Library
Section 4, pages 137-178, moderated by Dr. Andreas Madlung, University of Puget Sound
May 9, 2026 | 4-6pm | Tacoma Public Library (Main Branch)
Section 5, pages 179-225, moderated by Dr. Andreas Madlung, University of Puget Sound
May 23, 2026 | 4-6pm | Museum of Glass Grand Hall
Section 6, pages 226-278, moderated by Dr. Steven Neshyba, University of Puget Sound
More Bewilderment Programming
Tacoma Public Library Events
Join Tacoma Public Library and Museum of Glass for a series of climate change themed programs and talks in conjunction with the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read Program featuring Bewilderment. More information at tacomalibrary.org.
Spring Awakenings | February 18, 2026 - Fern Hill Branch
The Science of Rain Gardens | February 21, 2026 - Swasey Branch
Local Birds, Habitats, and Conservation | February 25, 2026 - South Tacoma Branch
Resilient Gardening: Climate Friendly Veggie Gardening | March 28, 2026 - Moore Branch
Birds & Beaks: How Birds Fill the Bill | March 28, 2026 - Wheelock Branch
Native Birds and Plants for Spring | April 10, 2026 - Fern Hill Branch
Preparing Your Home for Extreme Weather | April 29, 2026 - South Tacoma Branch
About Bewilderment
AN OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB SELECTION
An Instant New York Times Bestseller
Shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize
Longlisted for the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction
Longlisted for the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction
Description: The astrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos while single-handedly raising his unusual nine-year-old, Robin, following the death of his wife. Robin is a warm, kind boy who spends hours painting elaborate pictures of endangered animals. He’s also about to be expelled from third grade for smashing his friend in the face. As his son grows more troubled, Theo hopes to keep him off psychoactive drugs. He learns of an experimental neurofeedback treatment to bolster Robin’s emotional control, one that involves training the boy on the recorded patterns of his mother’s brain…
With its soaring descriptions of the natural world, its tantalizing vision of life beyond, and its account of a father and son’s ferocious love, Bewilderment marks Richard Powers’s most intimate and moving novel. At its heart lies the question: How can we tell our children the truth about this beautiful, imperiled planet?
About Richard Powers
Richard Powers is a multi-award-winning American author. He lives in the Great Smoky Mountains.
His fiction often explores the effects of science and technology on humanity, and he has been nominated for the Booker Prize four times, most recently for his novel Playground in 2024. He is a MacArthur Fellow and received the National Book Award in 2006. The Overstory, which was shortlisted for the Booker in 2018, also won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, among other honours. Powers has previously said he is partially indebted to Booker-winner Margaret Atwood for his 2021-shortlisted novel Bewilderment, which explores the anxiety of family life on a damaged planet.
Powers’s other works include Prisoner's Dilemma (1988), The Gold Bug Variations (stories, 1991), Operation Wandering Soul (1993), Galatea 2.2 (1995), Gain (1998), Plowing the Dark (2000), The Time of Our Singing (2003), The Echo Maker (2006), Generosity (2009), and Orfeo (2014).
Thank you to our Funder
Thank you to our Partners
