It's been more than a year since the National Endowment for the Arts warned the country that literature was heading the way of the dinosaurs.

The ominously titled "Reading at Risk" study reported in July 2004 that "literary reading" -- fiction, poetry and plays -- was losing popularity among Americans, sagging 10 percent overall between 1988 and 2002.

The 18- to 24-year-old group had the biggest drop -- 28 percent.

Among the chorus of the dismayed came the obvious question from novelist Richard Ford, "What are we going to do about it?"

Now, the NEA responds with "The Big Read," its plan to "revitalize the role of literature in American popular culture."

Set to launch early next year, its pilot effort will fund book projects in six cities.

Chairman Dana Gioia said it will be "the biggest federally run literature program in American history," a stunning comment from an administration that has pledged to shrink government. Shades of the Federal Writers Project!

The inspiration behind "The Big Read" is community-wide efforts in cities from Seattle to Pittsburgh that use novels to encourage public discussions on social issues.

The effort here, "One Book, One Community," started in 2002, covers Allegheny County. It has used "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Flowers for Algernon" and "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe."

The NEA has its own tentative choices for "The Big Read":

"Mockingbird," "The Great Gatsby," "Fahrenheit 451" and "Their Eyes Were Watching God."

It proposes to fund "The Big Read" in six cities "of varying sizes" and promises "innovative reading programs ... [and an] expansive national publicity campaign including television, radio and print publicity; compelling resources for discussing outstanding literature; and an extensive Web site providing comprehensive information on authors and their works."

(Keep in mind that Gioia was once an ad man for General Foods.)

It sketched its tentative benefits:

Grants from $25,000 to $35,000; materials for organizers; reading guides; promotional materials such as bookmarks and banners; PR advice from "a national public relations agency"; and finally, the "prestige of being selected."

All of these items were spelled out in an NEA request unveiled this summer calling for proposals by Aug. 31. No firm date to announce the winners has been released.

Felicia Knight, head of communications for the NEA who provided "The Big Read" details, cautioned that since it's a pilot project, specifics can change during the fine-tuning.

More information was supplied by David Kipen, former San Francisco Chronicle book reviewer, who was handpicked by fellow Californian Gioia as the NEA's director of literature this year.

He discussed plans last week in a podcast with the literary blog Moby Lives and the publishing industry Web site Publisher's Lunch.

(The blog is a component of Melville House, an independent publishing house launched by former Pittsburgher Dennis Johnson, who interviewed Kipen. The interview can be heard at www.mobylives.com.)

Kipen suggested the initial "Big Read" might take in more cities "because we received so many great applications" and added that "the final number is not set."

In the meantime, he promised to be "evangelizing around the country. I'll be out there barnstorming for literature."

Kipen won't be the first member of the administration to engage in evangelizing on federal time, but I wonder if "The Big Read" pulpit is the best way to attract converts.

I subscribe to the Harold Bloom theory of two cultures -- those who read and those who don't. Since all of the current one-book programs are centered in public libraries where dedicated readers hang out, those very same readers are the ones most likely to be the participants.

Encouraging reading with bookmarks, banners and TV ads misses the point. But this is a government that won't expand support for public education, is considering cutting college-loan funding and refuses to address the Patriot Act's threat to libraries and book buyers. We probably couldn't expect more.