UCSB Reads is an award-winning campus-wide and community-wide “one book” program started by the UCSB Library and Executive Vice Chancellor Gene Lucas in 2007. Each year, a committee of faculty, staff, students, and community partners convene to select an intellectually stimulating, interdisciplinary book by a living author that appeals to a wide range of readers and can be incorporated into the UCSB curriculum.
The program kicks off on at the start of the winter quarter with the Chancellor, Executive Vice Chancellor, and University Librarian distributing free books to UCSB students in the Library. A variety of UCSB Reads events (book clubs, film screenings, exhibitions, and faculty panel discussions) exploring the book and its themes are held on the UCSB campus. The program culminates in a live appearance by the author. Events are generally free and open to the public.
In 2020, we will be reading Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore by Elizabeth Rush. Learn more about UCSB Reads 2020.
UCSB Reads is presented by the University Library, the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and additional campus and community partners.
If you are interested in sponsoring the UCSB Reads program, contact Rebecca Metzger, Associate University Librarian for Learning & Engagement at (805) 893-2674 or rmetzger [at] ucsb [dot] edu.
For more information about UCSB Reads, or to participate in campus or community programming, contact Alex Regan, Events and Exhibitions Librarian, at (805) 893-3605 or write to ucsbreads [at] library [dot] ucsb [dot] edu
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To suggest a UCSB Reads 2021 title please use our online form.
UCSB Reads Books:
2019: The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
2018: Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
2017: Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea
2016: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
2015: Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman
2014: The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America by Timothy Egan
2013: Moonwalking With Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer
2012: Moby Duck: The True Story of 28,000 Bath Toys Lost at Sea, and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools--Including the Author--Who Went in Search of Them by Donovan Hohn
2011: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
2010: Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario
2009: Ethics for the New Millennium by Dalai Lama
2008: The Travels of a T-shirt in the Global Economy by Pietra Rivoli
2007: Field Notes from a Catastrophe by Elizabeth Kolbert
UCSB Reads 2020 Advisory Committee:
| Rebecca | Baker | Graduate Student, English |
| Roman | Baratiak | Associate Director, UCSB Arts & Lectures |
| Stephen | Bigelow | Faculty, Math |
| Elizabeth | Bowman | Director, Santa Barbara City College, Luria Library |
| Heather | Silva | Programming Manager, UCSB Arts & Lectures |
| Jane | Faulkner | UCSB Library |
| Dylan | Martinez | UCSB Undergraduate Student |
| Kathy | Foltz | Faculty, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology |
| David | Pellow | Faculty, Environmental Studies |
| Shelly | Leachman | UCSB Office of Public Affairs |
| Ken | Hiltner | Faculty, English/Environmental Humanities |
| Jackson | Eddy | UCSB Undergraduate Student |
| Erin | Nerstad | Associate Director, Interdisciplinary Humanities Center |
| Sameer | Pandya | Faculty, Asian-American Studies |
| Rebecca | Metzger | UCSB Library |
| Kathy | Patterson | Faculty, Writing Program |
| Bruce | Kendall | Faculty, Bren School, Applied Ecology |
| Alex | Regan | UCSB Library |
| Emily | Zinn | Associate Director, Carsey-Wolf Center |
| Alana | Beal | UCSB Library |
