Author of Mason Reads book visiting campus this week!

The Mason Reads program believes a book has the potential to start a conversation, challenge preconceived notions, and bring people together. This year, each incoming freshman received a copy of the book We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Students, faculty and community members are invited to hear Adichie discuss this book-long essay with Anne Holton, Mason’s interim president, on Friday, October 11, at 12:30pm at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts Concert Hall. The event is free to attend and all are welcome! We Should All be Feminists discusses feminism in the context of inclusion and awareness, encouraging all humans of all genders to know who they are.

Adichie is an accomplished author who has received many accolades and international recognition. Her first novel, Purple Hibiscus (2003), won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), won the Orange Prize. Adichie’s 2013 novel, Americanah won the U.S. National Book Critics Circle Award, and was named one of The New York Times Top Ten Best Books of 2013. Adichie has been invited to speak around the world. Her 2009 TED Talk, The Danger of A Single Story, is now one of the most-viewed TED Talks of all time. Her 2012 talk We Should All Be Feminists has started a worldwide conversation about feminism, and was published as a book in 2014.

How can you help your student get the most out of the Mason Reads Program? Here are our top tips for parents and family members:

• Encourage your student to read the book before the author’s event and come up with thoughtful questions to ask
• Suggest they view the author’s website to read her biography, see what other books she’s written and her upcoming events
• Encourage student to attend book discussion groups held throughout the Fall semester that discuss We Are All Feminists
• Attend one or more events during the 2019 Fall for the Book Festival with your student
• Nominate a book for next year’s Mason Reads
• View one of the author’s TED Talks

We look forward to celebrating literature and diversity at this year’s Mason Reads event and we hope to see your student making the most of their time at Mason!

Damaris Paris
Graduate Assistant
New Student and Family Programs

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