Program History

The KU Common Book program began in the fall of 2012. From 2012 to 2019, the program was focused on first-year student engagement and administered by the Office of First-Year Experience. The program went on hiatus in 2020 and returned in the fall of 2021 with an expanded purpose to engage all levels of students at KU. This expanded engagement included an expanded program coordination that includes the KU Libraries, the Hall Center for the Humanities, and the Division of Academic Success. The program’s success depends on many collaborative partners across campus.

Launching KU Reads

In 2024, the program was relaunched as KU Reads: A Common Book Experience with a renewed focus on integration into the KU Core 34 general education curriculum, and expanded campus partnerships. KU Reads continues to be administered by the KU Libraries, the Hall Center for the Humanities, and Academic Affairs.

Previous Selections

Since its inception, the KU Reads program has chosen texts that speak to the current moment and engage the KU community. A comprehensive list of all previously selected titles can be found below.

2012-2013 - Notes from No Man's Land by Eula Biss
2013-2014 - The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan
2014-2015 - The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty
2015-2016 - A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
2016-2017 - Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
2017-2018 - Citizen by Claudia Rankin
2018-2019 - Create Dangerously by Edwidge Danticat
2019-2020 - Tales of Two Americas: Stories of Inequality in a Divided Nation edited by John Freeman
2021-2022 - Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
2022-2023 - Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century edited by Alice Wong
2023-2024 - Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler