FOR RELEASE: Wednesday, August 26, 2009
University, Northwest Arkansas Communities Join for First 'One Book' Reading Program
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – University of Arkansas students, faculty and staff are joining reading groups across northwest Arkansas for the first “One Book, One Community” project, which is planned as an annual event intended to focus local attention on the themes and issues raised in a single book.
The book chosen to initiate the project is The Devil’s Highway, by Luis Urrea. It is a nonfiction account of the ordeal 26 men suffered after crossing from Mexico into a desolate section of the Arizona desert in May 2001. Only 12 survived. One reviewer wrote that the book “produces a powerful, almost diabolical impression of the disaster and the conditions on the border. Urrea shows immigration policy on the human level.”
Luis Urrea will visit the university and the Fayetteville community Thursday, Oct. 15, and Friday, Oct.16, as part of the project. He will meet with groups to talk about his work and deliver a free lecture at 7 p.m. Oct. 15, in the Reynolds Center Auditorium. The public is invited. Urrea’s appearance coincides with Hispanic Heritage Month, and is sponsored by University Programs with additional funding from the Bernice Jones Chair in Community and the Brown Chair in English Literacy, both of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.
A Web site has been created for the One Book, One Community program at: http://www.uark.edu/~univinfo/One_Book/index.html. The site will provide more details regarding the project, as well as the times and dates of Hispanic Heritage Month events and lectures on campus and in the community.
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The university’s human resources office will use The Devil’s Highway as part of its diversity training program, so staff members will be able to read the book for credit toward earning a diversity certificate.
In the community, the Fayetteville Public Library is encouraging book clubs throughout northwest Arkansas to read the book and is hosting a luncheon for area book clubs, with Luis Urrea as the featured speaker. The Northwest Arkansas Writing Project will offer a series of professional development workshops for middle school and high school teachers who want to use The Devil’s Highway in their own classrooms.
Two university professors have been instrumental in developing the One Book, One Community project: Kevin Fitzpatrick, who holds the Bernice Jones Chair in Community, and David Jolliffe, who holds the Brown Chair in English Literacy. Both plan to work with instructors to find ways to integrate the book into a variety of courses during the 2009-10 academic year. Both Jolliffe and Fitzpatrick are excited about the project’s potential.
"An all-community reading program is a great way to boost the intellectual quality of life in any setting,” said Jolliffe. “People who read together enjoy a special opportunity to engage in thoughtful, productive discussions about how the issues raised in the book touch their lives."
Fitzpatrick said, “I see this as an extraordinary opportunity for the University of Arkansas and the northwest Arkansas community to come together and work on a truly exciting project. This not only increases our intellectual capital but also our connectedness as a single community."
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Contact:
David Jolliffe, professor, Brown Chair in English Literacy
English Department
479-575-4301, djollif@uark.edu
Kevin Fitzpatrick, professor and Jones Chair in Community
Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice
479-575-3777, kfitzpa@uark.edu
Steve Voorhies, manager, media relations
University Relations
479-575-3583, voorhies@uark.edu