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.

Fiction

Annie Barrows

Bestselling Novelist of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and Children's Book Author

Amy Bloom

Bestselling Author of Away and Where the God of Love Hangs Out

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

Jamie Ford

New York Times bestselling author and book club favorite

Yann Martel

Winner of the Man Booker Prize-Winning Life of Pi and New York Times bestseller Beatrice and Virgil

Colum McCann

Author of the National Book Award-winning novel, Let the Great World Spin

Paula McLain

Novelist, Poet and Book Club Favorite

Thomas Mullen

Winner of the James Fenimore Cooper Prize and celebrated historical novelist

Joseph O’Neill

Author of the PEN/Faulkner Award-Winning Novel Netherland

Téa Obreht

National Book Award Finalist, Orange Prize Winner, and Author of The Tiger's Wife

Julie Otsuka

Author of National Book Award finalist, The Buddha in the Attic

Ann Packer

Book Club Favorite and Author of Songs Without Words

Karen Russell

Author of the acclaimed bestseller Swamplandia!

Mary Doria Russell

Prize-winning novelist and international bestseller

Lisa See

Author of the Book Club Favorites, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Shanghai Girls

Helen Simonson

International bestseller and community read favorite

Karin Slaughter

Internationally Bestselling Crime Novelist and Library Activist

Mark Spragg

Book Club Favorite and Author of Bone Fire

Elizabeth Strout

Author of the Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novel, Olive Kitteridge

J. Courtney Sullivan

Journalist and Author of the New York Times bestseller, Maine

Abraham Verghese

Renowned Physician, Teacher and Author of Cutting for Stone