UCSB Reads 2026
UCSB Library and the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost are pleased to announce the selection of Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner for UCSB Reads 2026, the 20th anniversary of UCSB’s award-winning common book program.
Crying in H Mart is a vibrant and sensory memoir exploring self-discovery, grief, and Korean-American culture through the celebratory lens of food and family. The book was a New York Times bestseller and received numerous awards and accolades.
Michelle Zauner is a young Korean-American musician, singer, songwriter, director, and author. She is the lead vocalist of acclaimed indie pop band Japanese Breakfast and was named one of the 100 most influential people of 2022 by TIME magazine.
- UCSB Reads 2026 book selection announcement
- Upcoming UCSB Reads 2026 events
- UCSB Reads 2026 shortlist announcement
- Learn more about UCSB Reads 2026
Video: What's UCSB Reads and why should students get involved?
About UCSB Reads
UCSB Reads is an award-winning program that fosters a shared sense of belonging by bringing the UCSB campus and Santa Barbara communities together to read a common book that explores compelling issues of our time.
The program is sponsored by UCSB Library and the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, and was started in 2007 by the Library and Executive Vice Chancellor Gene Lucas. Each year, a committee of UCSB faculty, students, staff, and community members selects a thought-provoking, interdisciplinary book written by a living author that encourages a wide range of readers to engage with a contemporary social, political, or cultural issue. Topics of UCSB Reads books have included climate change, human memory, racial justice, women in science, globalization, and wildfires, among many others.
For more information, visit guides.library.ucsb.edu/ucsbreads or email Sara Kelly, Exhibitions & Events Manager, sarakelly@ucsb.edu.
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UCSB Reads Books
2026: Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
2025: The Book of Delights: Essays by Ross Gay
2024: Your Brain On Art: How the Arts Transform Us by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
2023: Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design by Charles Montgomery
2022: Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang
2021: When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Cullors and asha bandele
2020: Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore by Elizabeth Rush
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 2026 Advisory Committee
Christoffer Bovbjerg: Associate Director, Interdisciplinary Humanities Center
Meghan Bush: Miller McCune Executive Director, Arts & Lectures
Allyson Dahl: UCSB Undergraduate Student
Christopher Dean: Faculty, Writing
Brian Donnelly: Faculty, English
Rimika Jaiswal: UCSB Graduate Student
Sara Kelly: UCSB Library
Kenneth Kosik: Faculty, MCDB
John Latto: Faculty, College of Creative Studies
Christine Le Forge: UCSB Library
Shirley Geok-lin Lim: Emeriti Faculty, English
Rebecca Metzger: UCSB Library
Emily Perez: UCSB Undergraduate Student
Heather Silva: UCSB Library
Johannes Steffens: UCSB Library
David Stein: Faculty, History
Emily Teter: Health & Wellness
Hangping Xu: Faculty, East Asian Languages & Cultural Studies
