A new University of Guelph initiative headed by renowned author and U of G professor Lawrence Hill brings together first-year students and community members to read and discuss a single book.
Gryphons Read engages students as participants as well as trainers and facilitators of small-group discussions.
The common reading project involves the College of Arts, the Office of the Provost and the McLaughlin Library. U of G’s Student Life runs and evaluates the program.
The inaugural project began in September with The Best Kind of People, a novel by U of G graduate Zoe Whittall, MFA ’09. She visited campus to meet with students and give public talks and readings.
“I can’t think of a better novel to kick off the first Gryphons Read 2017,” says Hill, who joined the School of English and Theatre Studies in 2016.
The Best Kind of People examines the lives of people caught up in a domestic crisis not of their own making. A national bestseller, the novel was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and was Indigo’s Number One Book of the Year.
Whittall has written numerous books and received various honours, and has been a television writer and story editor.