ABSTRACT
The most potent example of local policymaking around books is the mass-reading event along the lines of the much-imitated one-book–one-city model first trialled in Seattle by celebrity librarian Nancy Pearl. State/provincial programmes is impossible to draw any hard and fast distinction between local and regional cultural policy levels once general arts or book festivals grow to more than suburban size. These larger events are typically co-funded by the local city council and the relevant state or regional government. Traditionally in the cultural policy subfield of literature, governmental subsidy has taken the form of grants to writers to produce work in valued genres such as literary fiction, non-fiction, life writing, drama, poetry and, occasionally, electronic literature. Incorporating the now-familiar cultural policy goal of national identity-formation, such campaigns frequently select a list of ‘top reads’ with local associations in terms of author or setting.
