Colgate University launches effort encouraging 2,013 people to read George Saunders

Colgate University will kick off its 30th season of "Living Writers" with an effort to get 2,013 people read the "Tenth of December," a short story by prominent author and Syracuse University Professor George Saunders.

As of noon on Friday, July 19, 1,357 people signed up to read the story.

The effort is called "Colgate Reads," and no, it's not an attempt to set a Guinness World Record for reading (yet). It's a community initiative to get people reading and talking about a CNY author, before he presents the story in September at the university.

Think of it as one massive book club.

"Tenth of December" was first published in The New Yorker in October 2011. Saunders's short story collection of the same name was called "the best book you'll read this year" by The New York Times Magazine in January 2013.

Participants will be invited to a forum with two Colgate English professors to discuss the short story on Sept. 9 at 8 p.m. Then, they are invited to the Colgate Memorial Chapel and watch Saunders talk about the story on September 10.

Sign up online here to be part of the "Colgate Reads" challenge.

The Living Writers series will bring the following authors to read at Colgate during the fall semester, starting in September with Saunders.

George Saunders: "Tenth of December"
Sept. 10, 4:30 pm | Colgate Memorial Chapel

Gary Shteyngart: "Super Sad True Love Story"
Sept. 19, 4:30 p.m. | Love Auditorium

Deborah Treisman: fiction editor, The New Yorker
Sept. 26, 4:30 p.m. | Love Auditorium

Zadie Smith: "NW"
Oct. 3, 4:30 p.m. | Love Auditorium

Katherine Boo: "Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity"
Oct. 24, 4:30 p.m. | Love Auditorium

Peter Carey: "The Chemistry of Tears"
Oct. 31, 4:30 p.m. | Love Auditorium

Richard Rodriguez: "Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography"
Nov. 7, 4:30 p.m. | Love Auditorium

Kay Ryan: "The Best of It: New and Selected Poems"
Nov. 14, 4:30 p.m. | Love Auditorium

Chinelo Okparanta: "Happiness Like Water"
Dec. 5, 4:30 p.m. | Chinelo Okparanta reads in Persson Auditorium

All Living Writers readings and forums at Colgate are free and open to the public.

Source: http://www.syracuse.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2013/07/colgate_university_george_saunders_read.html

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