This post was written by Hatchet reporter Sucharita Mukherjee.

Reading aloud is usually reserved for middle-school classrooms, but this week, D.C. Public Library invited residents, as well as some high-profile community figures, to rediscover George Orwell’s “1984” in an 11-hour read-a-thon.

The event kicked off Orwellian America, a two-week program to teach attendees about surveillance, safety, technology and literature. About 70 people volunteered to take turns reading “1984” aloud at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on Wednesday.

The group was made up of library staff and figures like Craig Aaron from FreePress, Amie Stepanovich from Access, Danielle Brian of Politico and Shahid Buttar from the Bill of Rights Committee. Members of the public were also welcome to read.

“Something we care about [at FreePress] is unchecked spying and surveillance and people’s right to privacy, and keeping the free and open Internet,” Aaron said. “We have to have more public conversation about unchecked surveillance.”

He said he believed “1984” is often read in schools to help shape students’ attitudes about privacy and government overreach.

There were approximately 30 people at the reading in the mid-afternoon, and Aaron expected the event to pick up after school and work ended. Librarians Catherine Gees and Eric Riley said the series aimed to appeal especially to students.

“We tried to identify something that would really resonate with the public, something that was relevant and current and [that would] get a lot of attention from younger people, the emerging adult demographic,” Gees said.

Riley cited recent scandals involving the National Security Agency, whistle-blower Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks as catalysts for selecting “1984” as the focus of the series.

The events, which last through the weekend, are free to the public.