Griz Read 2016

Griz Read 2016

What page are you on?

The purpose of the Griz Read is to provide new students with a common connection through a thought-provoking book. Each year, a committee of faculty, staff, and students select a book from nominations submitted by the campus community.
 
All members of the campus community, especially first-year students, are encouraged to read the book and participate in Griz Read events. First-year students are invited to participate in the Griz Read events and essay contest.
 
We believe that books forge powerful bonds and we are excited to begin the campus discussion this year!
 
 

The Book

Love Medicine

A novel-in-stories about passion, family, and the importance of cultural identity, Love Medicine examines the struggle to balance Native American tradition with the modern world.

Using an eclectic range of comic and tragic voices, Louise Erdrich leads the reader through the interwoven lives of two Chippewa families living in North Dakota.

This modern classic is an often sad, sometimes funny look at the ways family and tradition bind us together.

The Author

Louise Erdrich was born in Little Falls, Minnesota in 1954. As the daughter of a Chippewa Indian mother and a German-American father, Erdrich explores Native-American themes in her works, with major characters representing both sides of her heritage. In an award-winning series of related novels and short stories, Erdrich has visited and re-visited the North Dakota lands where her ancestors met and mingled, representing Chippewa experience in the Anglo-American literary tradition. Many critics claim Erdrich has remained true to her Native ancestors’ mythic and artistic visions while writing fiction that candidly explores the cultural issues facing modern-day Native Americans and mixed heritage Americans. An essayist for Contemporary Novelists observed that “Erdrich’s accomplishment is that she is weaving a body of work that goes beyond portraying contemporary Native American life as descendants of a politically dominated people to explore the great universal questions—questions of identity, pattern versus randomness, and the meaning of life itself.” In addition to her numerous award-winning novels and short story collections, Erdrich has published three critically acclaimed collections of poetry, Jacklight (1984), Baptism of Desire(1989) and Original Fire: New and Selected Poems (2003).

Essay Contest

As part of the events and activities surrounding the Griz Read, we invite first-year students to submit 750-1250 word essays in one or both of the following categories: (1) the analytical essay or (2) the personal reflection essay. Cash prizes of $125 will be awarded to two writers of the best, most compelling essays in each category; the essays themselves (with the authors’ permission) will be posted to the Griz Read webpage. Students are limited to one entry per category.

 The DEADLINE for entries is MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14.

Please review the full call for entries in the 2016 Griz Read Essay Contest.

Partnership with The Big Read

The university is excited to partner with Missoula Public Library and greater Missoula community in The Big Read! Many events, programs and exhibits related to the book will be taking place during September 2016 and we encourage you to participate!

National Empowerment of the Arts big read 2018

Launch UM virtual tour.