One week left!

There's only one week left until the first iRead session of the year: a video conference with the Bich Minh Nguyen (pronounced bit min win), author of Stealing Buddha's Dinner. The event will take place in Heydel Fine Arts Center (the building behind the Dining Hall) at 12:30 PM on Wednesday, September 29. The event is free for all students, staff, and faculty members, so get there early to get a good seat!

During the conference, Ms. Nguyen will answer questions about the book, so be sure to finish reading the book and think of a couple of great questions to ask her. The library staff looks forward to seeing a packed auditorium!

Fall Program Schedule

It's almost time for the fall semester to begin at Cumberland University. We've been working hard this summer to promote iRead around campus, and now we're excited to present the fall schedule of iRead programs!

All programs will take place from 12:30-1:30 pm.

September 29, 2010- Bich Minh Nguyen, author and Assistant Professor of English at Purdue University, will speak about the book via web conference. This will take place at the Heydel Fine Arts Center

October 26, 2010- Dr. William Brinker, Professor of History at Tennessee Tech University, will present a talk on the consequences of the US withdrawal on the Vietnamese in Vienam. This will take place in Baird Chapel in Memorial Hall.

November 16, 2010- Representative from the Coalition for Education about Immigration. This will take place in Baird Chapel in Memorial Hall.

Mark your calendars and make plans to join us! For more information about any of these programs or the iRead program, please contact us at 615-547-1299 or library@cumberland.edu.

2010-11 iRead selection

After much deliberation and narrowing down titles, we have chosen Stealing Buddha's Dinner by Bich Minh Nguyen as our selection for the 2010-11 academic year.

Don't know much about this book? Don't worry! Here's some information to get you started:

In her memoir Stealing Buddha’s Dinner, Vietnamese immigrant Bich Minh Nguyen chronicles this new life as she navigates competing and conflicting cultural identities and struggles to fit into a community where she often feels like an outsider. Bich forgoes any rigidly defined identity and instead creates her own. Studded with pop culture references and narrated with a youthful, honest, and accessible voice, Stealing Buddha’s Dinner inspires readers to investigate their cultural influences, explore their family roots, and discover how contemporary events have affected their lives.

The iRead program will be integrated into the Foundations of Scholarship and Learning course being developed for entering freshmen students. We are in the process of planning iRead events and activities related to the themes of the book. If you have any suggestions about community resources or ideas for activities, please contact Eloise Hitchcock (ehitchcock@cumberland.edu), Director of the Vise Library. Watch the blog for more information about upcoming events!