This fall Cole Library will sponsor “One Book, One Campus, One Community,” with the goal of creating opportunities for life-long learners to come together to talk about a fantastic book.
This year’s selection is The Horizontal World: Growing Up Wild in the Middle of Nowhere by Debra Marquart. The library will host a wide variety of events for campus and community, including book discussions, lectures, and a film festival. Marquart will be on campus on September 18 to discuss her work. She will also be visiting with students and performing with her jazz and blues band during her time here.
The Horizontal World is what Marquart calls “a biomythography about an agricultural childhood in the rural Midwest.”
“We chose this book as our inaugural read because of its great potential for community and campus connection, as students often grapple with issues surrounding home, identity, and sense of place,” said Jennifer Rouse, consulting librarian for the arts and humanities.
Marquart is a professor of English at Iowa State University. She teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing & Environment at Iowa State University and the Stonecoast Low-Residency MFA program at the University of Southern Maine.
Marquart’s visit is made possible by the Richard and Marlene Williams Fund. The Williams Fund was established to bring to campus lectures and special events which will stimulate students and enliven the campus community.