Ryan ChartrandCal Poly’s shared reading program, known as PREFACE, isn’t just for WOWies anymore. Cal Poly’s newly enhanced program now offers all of the Cal Poly and San Luis Obispo community a chance to read a great book and join discussions and other events downtown.
PREFACE collaborated with the San Luis Obispo City Library for the first time this year and created a new name: PREFACE and SLO County Reads.
Cal Poly students, faculty, staff, alumni and San Luis Obispo county residents can participate in a series of events all culminating in a special Oct. 12 presentation by Alice Sebold, author of this year’s chosen book, “The Lovely Bones.”
The program is hosting six events, all inspired by topics covered in “The Lovely Bones,” that are free and open to the public. Program Coordinator Patricia Ponce said she hopes that having students and San Luis Obispo residents read the same book and participate in discussions will help build positive relationships between campus and the local community.
“I think it’s a great opportunity to bring everyone together,” Ponce said.
The themes of the events include sexual assault prevention and recovery, grieving and dealing with the death of a loved one, crime scene investigations, creating memory art and different perspectives on life after death.
“We thought, let’s explore all of these ideas and topics,” Ponce said.
She also thinks the PREFACE and SLO County Reads program bonds each incoming class of freshman with a “common intellectual experience.”
PREFACE and SLO County Reads hopes holding events beyond book discussions will make students and community members come together to talk about other important social issues.
“We have these generations communicating with each other and it’s a great thing,” Ponce said.
At the final event in the series, to be held at 7 p.m. Oct. 12 in Cal Poly’s Performing Arts Center, Alice Sebold will talk about the writing process, the difference between memoir and fiction and the approach she takes to her work. She will also meet with attendees and sign copies of “The Lovely Bones.”
“The Lovely Bones” is the winner of a number of national and international awards and stayed on The New York Times Bestseller List for more than 70 weeks. Critic Katherine Bouton of The New York Times praised Sebold for handling the novel’s difficult topics with such ease.
“She deals with almost unthinkable subjects with humor and intelligence and a kind of mysterious grace,” Bouton said.
A campus committee handpicks the books chosen for the PREFACE program based on four principles including social relevance, personal relevance, a broad appeal and intellectual interest.
The committee reads and discusses parts of 30 to 40 books each year before picking one and announcing it spring quarter.
The original PREFACE program began at Cal Poly in 2002 with a group of honor students, but has since grown and began recruiting and training volunteers to lead discussions with students during the Week of Welcome (WOW) orientation and at off-campus locations specifically for community members.