UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

Lisa Ko

ReadUP & Schoenfeldt Book Discussions, Feb. 4-6

Fr. Charlie Gordon, C.S.C., will lead discussions of this year’s ReadUP selection, The Leavers by Lisa Ko, on Tuesday, February 4; Wednesday, February 5; and Thursday, February 6 from noon to 1 p.m., in the Clark Library conference room. Light refreshments will be provided and all are welcome to bring their lunch, questions, and insights as we sink our teeth into Ko’s wonderful novel.

Ko will be speaking on February 10 as part of this year’s annual Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writers Series. The Leavers was a 2017 National Book Award Finalist and winner of the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction.

For more information about this year’s ReadUP selection, including a reading guide and video highlighting compelling themes, visit up.edu/readup. For questions about discussion groups, contact the Garaventa Center at x7702 or garaventa@up.edu. These events are sponsored by the Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writers Series, the Office of the Provost, Garaventa Center for Catholic Intellectual Life & American Culture, Clark Library, Office of Residence Life, the Office of University Relations, and the Office of Marketing and Communications.

Lisa Ko To Deliver Schoenfeldt Series Lecture on Monday, Feb. 10

ReadUP 2020 comes to an exciting conclusion on Monday, February 10, at 7 p.m., when author Lisa Ko discusses her book The Leavers as part of the Schoenfeldt Distinguished Visiting Writers Series. This lecture is free and open to all members of the community, and will be held in Buckley Center Auditorium. Ko will be available to sign books immediately following the presentation.

ReadUP 2019-2020: Order Books Now

All students, faculty, and staff are invited to participate in UP’s sixth annual ReadUP program. This year’s selection is The Leavers by Lisa Ko, who will speak on February 10, 2020 as part of this year’s annual Schoenfeldt Writers Series.

The Leavers, Ko’s 2017 debut novel, was a National Book Award finalist, winner of the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Fiction, and was named a Best Book of 2017 by NPR, Entertainment Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed, Bustle, Electric Literature, and others. According to a review in The Atlantic, “For topicality, Lisa Ko’s novel The Leavers, about an undocumented mother who suddenly disappears and the young American-born son she leaves behind, could hardly be better timed.”

ReadUP is the University’s annual celebration of literature in which the entire local campus community — students, faculty, and staff — are invited to read “one book together.” Free copies of each year’s selection are distributed by the Clark Library and in residence halls, and book discussion groups are formed in the residence halls and at faculty/staff brown bag lunches. The campaign culminates with a public lecture and discussion by the book’s author, as part of the Schoenfeldt Distinguished Visiting Writers Series. The author’s visit to the UP campus — and the efforts to get each year’s riveting selection into the hands, heads and hearts of UP students, faculty and staff — is sponsored by the Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writers Series, the Office of the Provost, Garaventa Center for Catholic Intellectual Life & American Culture, Clark Library, Office of Residence Life, the Office of University Relations, and the Office of Marketing and Communications.

To order your free copy, please click here. Orders will be taken starting Monday, October 21 through Friday, November 1. Starting Monday, November 11, students living in residence halls will pick up their books from their hall directors and for everyone else, books can be picked up from the Clark Library, any time between 7:30 a.m. and 10 p.m., at the main circulation desk.