NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) — The New Bedford Whaling Museum is hosting its 23rd annual read-a-thon of one of America’s most celebrated novels — Moby-Dick.

The reading will begin at noon on Saturday and continue around the clock until 1 p.m. on Sunday. More than 200 readers will participate in the event.

Besides the main reading, the Whaling Museum will host two mini-marathons on January 5: a Portuguese-language reading of an abridged Moby-Dick, and a children’s version of the book.

There have been other cover-to-cover readings of the Herman Melville classic.

In July, visitors to Arrowhead — Melville’s Pittsfield home — were treated to a full reading to celebrate the author’s birthday. Melville wrote the book in Pittsfield.


Melville was born Aug. 1, 1819. He wrote “Moby-Dick” at Arrowhead in 1850 and 1851.