Vol 26 | No 2 | Spring 18
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A Look Back at the 2017-18 Author Series

ImageDuring the past year, the UCI Libraries and UCI Illuminations enjoyed a stimulating literary partnership, which concluded with a final event on April 17, 2018. This partnership was the UCI Illuminations Author Series, which featured prominent authors who were invited to speak at UCI, and UCI libraries co-hosted book clubs in preparation for the author talks. Each book club was led by a UCI Humanities professor who either knew the author personally or was a genre expert. The conversation was so lively at all of the book clubs that the professors only had to get the ball rolling at the beginning of the night and the enthusiasm of the audiences did the rest.

Angie Thomas' book, The Hate U Give, was the subject for the first book club. Professor Jonathan Alexander led a spirited discussion that spanned topics of race, discrimination, youth and innocence.

Professor Michelle Latiolais, former professor to Alice Sebold '98, during her time at UCI, led the next book club discussing Sebold's book, Lucky. The discussion around this book was riveting and came at a time of great relevance given that the intimate and tragic topic of the book was reflected in many of the #metoo news headlines from this year.

Professor Barry Siegel led an active conversation on the making of Wonder Woman and the people behind the beloved character before Jill Lepore's visit to discuss her book, The Secret History of Wonder Woman. Attendees discussed women's rights and misogynists.

Attendees of the book club for Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life and Others discussed the title story that became "Arrival"--a feature film starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker. Professor Christopher Fan led the discussion and attendees shared their opinions on time and how the author presented time in his book.

ImageThe last book club focused on the Pulitzer Prize winning Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. Underground Railroad provided ample topics for an in-depth discussion, led by Professor Michael Szalay, about the nation's history, slavery and hardship.

These programs were open to all UCI students, faculty, staff and community members. Many attendees of the book club mentioned that it was of great value to discuss the books before seeing the author a week later. These book clubs would not have been successful without the avid participation of attendees and the partnership with UCI Illuminations and School of the Humanities.

Note: Colson Whitehead came to UCI for a series of events as part of the Chancellor's Distinguished Speakers Series with thanks to the Office of the Chancellor and Office of Academic Planning.

For more information please contact Kathleen Gaffney, External Relations & Administrative Services Assistant at krgaffne@uci.edu.