Joe Mantegna and Sam Weller at Bradbury Square dedication in 2012.

Steven Paul Leiva is organizing a new tribute to Ray Bradbury. The Ray Bradbury Read will he held in Maguire Gardens, situated between the Central Library and Ray Bradbury Square, on August 22, 2016 — Bradbury’s birthday. A Facebook event page is here.

Most of the readers will come from the public to be chosen by a method yet to be decided. But we hope to have celebrity readers as well reading from Ray’s work. The celebrities could come from entertainment (film, TV, theater, sports), literature (authors influenced by Ray, or just ones who love him), science (such as individuals involved in space exploration, or the study of dinosaurs), and even politics, or better said, civic service (council members, the mayor, members of congress, etc.).

Actor Joe Mantegna has agreed to be a reader subject to his availability.

The members of the Ray Bradbury Read board of advisers are:

• Ray Bradbury’s Daughters:
  • Susan Bradbury Nixon
  • Ramona Ostergren
  • Bettina Bradbury
  • Alexandra Bradbury
• Jon Eller, director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies, Indiana University
• Joe Mantegna, star of The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (play & film) and long-time friend of Ray’s.
• Michael Congdon, Don Congdon Associates, Ray’s long-time agent.
• Phil Nichols, blogger at http://www.bradburymedia.co.uk/ and Senior Advisor to the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies.
• Jennifer Brehl, SVP, Executive Editor & Director of Editorial Development, Morrow and Voyager, imprints of HarperCollins Publishers., Ray’s editor for many years.
• Howard Green, VP, Communications for Walt Disney Animation Studios, publicist on the film version of Something Wicked this Way Comes, long time friend.
• Marsha LuMetta, Trustee of the Ray Bradbury Family Trust

Steven Paul Leiva at Ray Bradbury Library dedication in 2013. (Susan Bradbury Nixon at left.)