UCSB Reads

The UC Santa Barbara Library and the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor are pleased to announce the selection of the 2023 UCSB Reads book, Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design by Charles Montgomery.

The UCSB Reads selection committee is pleased to announce its shortlist of titles under consideration for UCSB Reads 2023.

The list includes both fiction and nonfiction titles that explore subjects ranging from racism in science, fast food and civil rights, urban design, Black women’s history, and the urban Native American experience.

The UC Santa Barbara Library and the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor are pleased to announce the selection of the 2022 UCSB Reads book, Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang.

Now in its 16th year, UCSB Reads brings the campus and Santa Barbara communities together to read a common book that explores compelling issues of our time.

The UCSB Reads selection committee has announced its shortlist of titles under consideration for UCSB Reads 2022.

The selections span the genres of science fiction short stories, fiction, nonfiction, and biographical essays. They explore subjects of free will, bioethics, grief, privilege, poverty, social mobility, immigration, addiction, race, and more. 

UCSB Library is excited to launch summer book clubs to bring the campus and community together to connect with others who love literature and engage in peer-led discussions on interesting topics.

The summer book clubs will focus on the five books nominated for the UCSB Reads 2022 shortlist, which will be announced in mid-June.

Want to meet other Gauchos who care about racial justice?

UCSB Library is organizing student-led small group reading discussions for UCSB students to dive into the UCSB Reads 2021 book When They Call You A Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Cullors and asha bandele. 

The UC Santa Barbara Library and the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor are pleased to announce the selection of the 2021 UCSB Reads book, When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Cullors and asha bandele.

The UCSB Reads Committee has announced its shortlist of titles under consideration for UCSB Reads 2021. This year, in recognition of the extraordinary and necessary attention to race in this country, all the titles grapple with race. The list includes memoirs, a novel, a book of poetry, and for the first time ever, a podcast.

Elizabeth Rush, UCSB Reads 2020 author of Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore, gave a free online community talk on Earth Day about Rising and the impact of climate change and sea level rise. The talk was moderated by David Pellow, Dehlsen Chair and Professor of Environmental Studies.

In lieu of planned tours of the Carpinteria Salt Marsh and the Coal Oil Point Reserve, Dr. Andrew Brooks, Director of the Carpinteria Salt Marsh, UC Natural Reserve System, and Charles Lester, Director of the Ocean & Coastal Policy Center at the Marine Science Institute, provide insight on how sea level rise will affect these local habitats via a video talk in conjunction with UCSB Reads 2020.