Lyceum Agency - Issues & Ideas - First Year Experience and Common Reads

First Year Experience and Common Reads

Diana Abu-Jaber
Author │ Journalist │ Essayist

A novelist and a memoirist, Abu-Jaber is credited with writing the first mainstream Arab-American novel, Arabian Jazz. In her two successive books, the novel Crescent and her memoir The Language of Baklava, she has continued to explore issues of identity, ethnicity, and the experience of existing between cultures. Her newest novel, Birds of Paradise, tells the story of a family in Miami facing the advent of their runaway daughter’s 18th birthday, while struggling to deal with the pain she caused when she left four years earlier.

Selected Books: Origin, The Language of Baklava, Crescent, Birds of Paradise

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Katherine Boo

Bestselling Author │ Journalist │ Pulitzer Prize Winner

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has devoted much of her career to writing about poverty here and abroad. A finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize and the recipient of the 2012 National Book Award for Nonfiction, her bestseller Behind the Beautiful Forevers is a gripping narrative account of life in a Mumbai slum. A landmark work of narrative nonfiction that tells the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving toward a better life in one of the 21st century’s great, unequal cities. In this brilliantly written, fast-paced book, based on three years of uncompromising reporting, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human. With intelligence, humor, and deep insight into what connects human beings to one another in an era of tumultuous change, Behind the Beautiful Forevers carries the reader headlong into one of the twenty-first century’s hidden worlds, and into the lives of people impossible to forget.

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Ana Castillo

Author │ Essayist │ Poet

“An always skilled storyteller, [Castillo] grounds her writing in . . . humor, love, suspense and heartache–that draw the reader in.”

–Chicago Sunday Sun-Times

In a career spanning three decades, novelist, poet, and essayist Castillo has long been recognized as “one of the most articulate, powerful voices in contemporary Chicana literature” (Elsa Saeta). Steeped in Chicano tradition and deeply invested in the present-day Chicano movement, Castillo’s works nevertheless transcend boundaries of politics, class, and gender, making her “one of a few Mexican American writers who have attracted the attention of the mainstream reading public” (Ibis Gomez-Vega). Castillo’s most recent novel, The Guardians, traces the lives of Mexican immigrants who illegally cross the border into the U.S. Combining crushing realism with mystical transcendence, The Guardians centers on a family devastated by deaths and disappearances. Ultimately, “Castillo’s incandescent novel of suffering and love traces life’s movement toward the light even in the bleakest of places” (Donna Seaman, Booklist starred review). Castillo will have two books published in 2014: a new novel, Give It To Me, and the 20th anniversary edition of her classic collection of Xicana essays, Massacre of the Dreamers.

Selected Books: The Guardians, So Far From God

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Heidi Durrow
Bestselling Novelist │ Essayist │ Social Activist

Durrow’s debut novel, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, received the 2008 Bellwether Prize for Fiction, a prize established by author Barbara Kingsolver to recognize literary books of merit that address issues of social justice. Based on a true story, Durrow’s best-selling novel explores issues of race, class, identity, and coming of age in contemporary America. Inspirational and eloquent, Durrow was selected as one of Ebony magazine’s “Power 100” and nominated for a NAACP Image Award. The first in her family to attend college, Durrow is a graduate of Stanford, the Columbia School of Journalism, and Yale Law School. After working as a lawyer, she spent several years working for the NFL. Her writing has appeared in Literary Review, Smokelong Quarterly, Callaloo, Poem/Memoir/Story, the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, Essence magazine and Newsday, among others. Durrow is an occasional contributor to NPR’s All Things Considered, hosts a regular “Mixed Chicks Chat” podcast, and is the founder of the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival.

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Elizabeth Gilbert
Bestselling Author │ Short Story Writer │ Memoirist

Annie Proulx has called her “a writer of incandescent talent.” The author of 2006's runaway bestseller Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert is unquestionably one of her generation's most beloved memoirists. Eat, Pray, Love, which has sold more than ten million copies worldwide, is Gilbert's memoir of soul-searching and international exploration in the wake of her devastating divorce. Gilbert is a distinguished journalist who began her career writing for Harper's Bazaar, Spin, the New York Times Magazine, and GQ. In 2002, her book The Last American Man was a Finalist for the National Book Award. Committed, the deeply satisfying follow-up to Eat, Pray, Love, tells the story of Gilbert's unexpected plunge into second marriage—this time to Felipe, the man with whom she falls in love at the end of Eat, Pray, Love. Part memoir, part meditation on marriage as a sociohistorical institution, Committed is rich with Gilbert's bright, engaging voice and characteristic playful humor. Gilbert recently finished a novel, The Signature of All Things, to be published in the fall of 2013.

Selected Books: The Last American Man, Eat Pray Love, Committed

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Jeff Goodell
Author │ Investigative Journalist │ Energy & Environment Expert

“The greatest danger we face is not technological hubris, but human apathy.”

—Jeff Goodell

Acclaimed environmental author, investigative journalist, and coal-industry expert (Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America’s Energy Future), Jeff Goodell trains his eye on the emergent field of geoengineering in his next book, How to Cool the Planet: Geoengineering and the Audacious Quest to Fix the Earth’s Climate (2010). Goodell is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, and his articles appear regularly in the New York Times Magazine and Yale University’s Environment 360. He is also the author of the New York Times bestseller Our Story: 77 Hours That Tested Our Friendship and Our Faith, based on the experience of the Quecreek miners. Big Coal is the subject of a feature documentary called Dirty Business.

Selected Books: Big Coal, How to Cool the Planet

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Alice Hoffman
Bestselling Author │ Novelist │ Short Story Writer

Bestselling author of The Third Angel, Practical Magic, and Here on Earth (a 1998 Oprah Book Club selection) and many other titles, Hoffman is also a beloved young adult author. Her recent YA books include The Green Witch and Incantation, which tells the story of the persecution of Jews in medieval Spain. Several of her books have been adapted into films, including Practical Magic and Aquamarine. Her latest bestselling novel, The Dovekeepers, an epic tale that recounts the fall of Masada, was described by Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison as “beautiful, harrowing, a major contribution to twenty-first-century literature.” Due out in October 2013, Survival Lessons is a short inspirational and insightful guide to surviving cancer (or life’s other big challenges). She is also working on a new novel, The Museum of Extraordinary Things, to be published in 2014.

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Hillary Jordan

Bestselling Author │ Novelist

Hillary Jordan's first novel, Mudbound, was published in 2008 after winning the Bellwether Prize for Fiction, a prize established by author Barbara Kingsolver to recognize literary books of merit that address issues of social justice. The book won numerous other awards including the Alex Award from the American Library Association. Her second novel, When She Woke, published to rave reviews, is a dystopian take on The Scarlet Letter that blends hot-button issues such as the separation of church and state, abortion, and criminal justice with an utterly engrossing story, driven by a heroine as layered and magnetic as Hester Prynne herself.

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Sue Monk Kidd
Bestselling Author │ Novelist │ Essayist

Novelist and essayist Sue Monk Kidd gained fame with her debut novel, The Secret Life of Bees, a blockbuster bestseller which is considered a modern classic (and which was adapted into a feature film in 2008). She is also the author of The Mermaid Chair and, more recently, an inspiring memoir, Traveling With Pomegranates, which she wrote with her daughter. Ms. Kidd is also highly regarded for her groundbreaking work in the field of feminine spirituality and feminist theology (God’s Joyful Surprise, When the Heart Waits, and Dance of the Dissident Daughter). Her inspirational lectures explore the themes and meanings of her work; the impetus for her stories and characters; “Southern-ness” in literature; and the intersection of writing, creativity, and soul. She is currently at work on her next novel.

Selected Books: The Secret Life of Bees, The Mermaid Chair

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Tracy Kidder
Bestselling Author │ Journalist │ Essayist

Kidder’s exceptional and prolific writing career took off in 1983 with The Soul of a New Machine, a book celebrated for its insight into the world of high-tech corporate America that earned him a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. Other bestselling works include House, Among Schoolchildren, Old Friends, and Home Town. Regarded as a master of nonfiction narrative, Kidder has enjoyed enormous success with Mountains Beyond Mountains and Strength in What Remains, which have been extremely popular with campus and community Common Read programs. Mountains tells the story of charismatic humanitarian Dr. Paul Farmer and his efforts to address the global health crises of AIDS and TB. Strength chronicles the tale of a young medical student, Deo, who survives the genocide in Burundi and emigrates to the U.S. to find redemption through education and service to others. Both books have been enormously popular First Year Experience/Common Read selections and are masterful accounts of real people who have prevailed against seemingly impossible circumstances to better our world. Tracy Kidder’s writing has appeared in numerous periodicals over the years, including the Atlantic, the New Yorker, Granta, and the New York Times. His newest book, Good Prose, is a guide to the craft of nonfiction, written with his long-time editor Richard Todd.

Selected Books: Mountains Beyond Mountains, The Strength in What Remains, The Soul of a New Machine

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Alex Kotlowitz
Bestselling Author │ Journalist │ Documentary Filmmaker

Award-winning journalist Alex Kotlowitz, lauded for his unflinching portrayal of race and poverty in America, is the author of the bestselling works of nonfiction There Are No Children Here and The Other Side of the River. He recently produced the critically-acclaimed documentary The Interrupters, with director Steve James (Hoop Dreams), which was inspired by an article Kotlowitz wrote about urban violence in Chicago for the New York Times Magazine in 2008. Hailed by A.O. Scott of the New York Times as one of the “must see” documentaries of 2011, The Interrupters was praised by the Miami Herald as “a heartbreaking, empowering documentary about inner-city violence.” The film was awarded the 2012 Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary. A staff writer for the Wall Street Journal from 1984-1993, he remains an active journalist and is a regular contributor to National Public Radio (This American Life, All Things Considered, and Morning Edition) and the New York Times Magazine. He is currently working on a documentary on low-wage workers for Al Jazeera America.

Selected Books: There are No Children Here, Never a City So Real

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James Howard Kunstler
Novelist │Urban Planning Advocate │Journalist │Social Critic

The author of eight novels and countless articles and essays, Kunstler is best known for his now-classic works in the literature of urban planning and suburban critique: The Geography of Nowhere and Home From Nowhere. His more recent writings on sustainability and the environment include The Long Emergency, which explores issues of social change, community design and the economics of sustainability through the lens of increasing energy costs and natural resource depletion, and Too Much Magic, which analyzes the various technologies being suggested as magic bullets to the energy crisis. With vision, clarity and a pragmatic worldview, he argues that the time for magical thinking is over and the time to roll up our sleeves and get to work with our neighbors is at hand. Publisher’s Weekly says, “With characteristic curmudgeonly enthusiasm, Kunstler brilliantly if belligerently shows us what a pickle we’re in and how inept we are at dealing with it.” Mr. Kunstler has delivered incisive lectures (which he aptly describes as “stand-up comedy with dark moments”) about urban design, energy issues and new economics to audiences across North America, Australia, Europe and Africa.

Selected Books: Geography of Nowhere, The Long Emergency, Too Much Magic

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The Lacks Family
The Lacks Family, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

For many years the name Henrietta Lacks was unknown, but with Rebecca Skloot’s phenomenal and enduring bestseller The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a growing number of people from medical researchers to book group members and high school students are eager to learn more about her. Henrietta's Family, speaks eloquently and poignantly about the family’s experiences and the mother, grandmother or great-grandmother they hardly knew, but whose cancerous cell tissue has miraculously become, since her death in 1951, one of the most important medical research tools ever discovered. The Lacks Family's thoughtful and personal connection to the bestselling book emphasizes how proud they are of Henrietta's contribution to science. Members of the Lacks Family have spoken to audiences at libraries, universities, colleges, secondary schools, and various professional associations. He has presented to the National Congress of Black Women, The Morehouse School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins, the Virginia General Assembly, The University of Maryland Medical Center, Austin College, San Jose State, and many other organizations.

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Jeanne Marie Laskas

Author │ Journalist │ Memoirist

Award-winning writer Jeanne Marie Laskas has been called “a reporting and writing powerhouse” (Rebecca Skloot). Laskas proves it once again in Hidden America, an Oprah Must-Read Best Book that explores the lives of the millions of Americans who only rarely capture our attention or our compassion. From coal miners to cowboys to cheerleaders, Laskas employs her “intimate, insightful journalism” (Mike Sager) to teach us about the people who keep our lives running smoothly. A transformative, entertaining, and sometimes hilarious book, Hidden America makes it, as the Daily Beast concluded, “impossible not to see the world a little differently.”

Before Hidden America, Laskas wowed readers and critics alike with a trilogy of memoirs: Fifty Acres and a Poodle, The Exact Same Moon, and Growing Girls. Her long-form journalism has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, O: The Oprah Magazine, Allure, Ladies' Home Journal, and many others. Laskas has also been a regular contributor to Esquire, GQ, the Washington Post Magazine, and Reader's Digest. Her work has frequently been anthologized in the Best American collections, and she has received several Gold Quill Awards for excellence in journalism. Laskas is the Director of the Writing Program at the University of Pittsburgh.

Christopher Phillips
Bestselling Author │ Founder, Constitution & Socrates Cafés │ Social Entrepreneur

Christopher Phillips, the New York Times bestselling author of Socrates Café, Six Questions of Socrates, and Socrates in Love, has a passion for inquiry. A foremost specialist in the Socratic Method, he reminds us that we ought to ask questions—as Socrates put it in Plato’s The Republic, “about the way one should live.” Phillips’s inquiries reveal surprising points of intersection between classical philosophy, modern life, and the intellectual richness of diverse societies. Energized by the initial optimism surrounding Obama’s presidency and concerned with the increasingly fierce nature of the partisanship infecting Congress, Phillips’s latest project is Constitution Café, an effort to engage everyday Americans in constructive dialogue and debate about the nature of our government, the meaning of citizenship, and our most important political documents. Phillips has taught at New York University and is the founder and executive director of the Constitution Café and the Society for Philosophical Inquiry (SPI).

–Los Angeles Times

Christopher Phillips has a passion for inquiry. A foremost specialist in the Socratic Method, he reminds us that we ought to ask questions – “not about any chance question,” as Socrates put it in Plato’s Republic, “but about the way one should live.”

Selected Books: Constitution Café, Six Questions of Socrates, Socrates Café.

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Rebecca Skloot
Bestselling Author │ Journalist

Bestselling author Rebecca Skloot spent over ten years doggedly uncovering the truth about the life, death and ultimate "immortality" of a poor black tobacco farmer named Henrietta Lacks. On a tumultuous educational path until a community college biology instructor utter the words "Henrietta Lacks," Skloot—with remarkable focus and tenacity—set off on a trajectory that would shine the national spotlight on both and become the phenomenal book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

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Dr. Geoff Tabin, MD

Physician │ Humanitarian

One of Dr. Tabin’s greatest passions, mountain climbing, directed him to his professional career. After summiting Mt. Everest he came across a Dutch team performing cataract surgery on a woman who had been needlessly blind for three years. It was then he understood his life calling. He is a Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and Director of the Division of International Ophthalmology at the John A. Moran Eye Center, University of Utah and spends a considerable part of the year working throughout the Himalayas, as well as in Africa. Tabin is only the fourth person in the world to reach the tallest peak on each of the seven continents, however he brings even greater passion and drive to the practice of medicine and healing. He says, “My partner Dr. Sanduk Ruit and I have vowed to work to eliminate all preventable and treatable blindness from the Himalayan region in our lifetime, a goal more audacious than setting out to make the first assent of the East Face of Mount Everest.” The work of their organization, The Himalayan Cataract Project, is documented in David Oliver Relin’s upcoming book Second Suns, which will be released in June 2013

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Krista Tippett
Author │ Radio Show Host │ Journalist

“It’s always been very important to me to enlarge imaginations about how this part of life we call religious and spiritual actually works in real, far-flung, 21st-century lives.”

—Krista Tippett

A noted commentator on religion, ethics, and spirituality, Krista Tippett is the award-winning host of public radio’s Krista Tippett On Being (formerly Speaking of Faith), a weekly radio program carried by more than 200 public radio affiliates across the U.S. Tippett is highly regarded for the insight she brings to interfaith conversations about belief, meaning, ethics, and religion in a climate too often marred by polarization and partisanship. She is the author of Einstein’s God: Conversations About Science and the Human Spirit and Speaking Of Faith. She is currently working on The Civil Conversations Project and finishing a new book, slated for publication in 2014.

Selected Books: Speaking of Faith, Einstein's God

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Norah Vincent
Bestselling Author │ Cultural Critic │ Journalist

Called “the new Steinem” by William Safire, Norah Vincent took a leave from writing her nationally syndicated political opinion columns in order to write her New York Times bestseller Self-Made Man, the story of a woman living, working, and dating in drag as a man. Narrating her journey with exquisite insight, empathy, and humor, Vincent ponders the many remarkable mysteries of gender identity as she explores firsthand who men really are when women aren’t around. Her next work of nonfiction,Voluntary Madness, is a riveting work that exposes the state of mental healthcare in America from the inside out. Vincent’s newest book, a searing novel entitled Thy Neighbor was published in fall 2012.

Selected Books: Self-Made Man, Voluntary Madness, Thy Neighbor

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Jesmyn Ward
Author │ Novelist │ Memoirist

Winner of the 2011 National Book Award for her novel Salvage the Bones, the story of a poor black family in the days immediately surrounding Hurricane Katrina. Ward, herself a survivor of Katrina, grew up and still makes her home in DeLisle, Mississippi, a town she fictionalized in both Salvage the Bones and her eloquent debut novel, Where the Line Bleeds. Heralded by the Library Journal for her “fearless, toughly lyrical language,” Jesmyn Ward is a fitting heir to the rich literary tradition of the American South. She confronts poverty, racism, natural disaster, and community devastation with gravitas and grace. Ward received her MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan, where she won five Hopwood Awards for her fiction, essays, and drama. She held a Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University from 2008-2010, and served as the Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi during the following year. Ward currently teaches creative writing at the University of Southern Alabama in Mobile and will have a memoir, Men We Reaped, published in the fall of 2013.

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