Community Reads
Our Community Reads speakers bring together diverse audiences who share similar passions and enthusiasms. Whether appearing at a campus-wide common read, connecting with a book club, or capping off a season of library programming, these literary legends are gifted orators whose stories lend themselves to lively discussion.
Annie Barrows
Bestselling Novelist of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and Children's Book Author
Dan Chaon
National Book Award finalist and bestselling author of literary novels and short story collections
Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Bestselling novelist and co-founder of The Camellia Network, assisting foster care youth
Yann Martel
Winner of the Man Booker Prize-Winning Life of Pi and New York Times bestseller Beatrice and Virgil
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Noted historian and international bestselling author of Jerusalem and Young Stalin
Gary Paulsen
Prolific Three-Time Newbery Honor Winner, Hailed as "One of the Best Loved Writers Alive" by The New York Times
Darin Strauss
Bestselling novelist and author of the acclaimed memoir Half a Life, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography
Isabel Wilkerson
Pulitzer Prize Winner and author of the critically acclaimed bestseller, The Warmth of Other Suns
Markus Zusak
New York Times Bestselling Author of The Book Thief, a Book Club Favorite and Beloved Novel Embraced by Readers of All Ages
