Jennine Capo Crucet
Camarillo, Calif., Oct. 10, 2016 — A Cuban-American author who wrote an award-winning novel about a minority student in an ultra-elite university will be speaking at CSU Channel Islands (CI) for the 14th Annual Campus Reading Celebration.
The public and CI community is invited to hear Jennine Capo Crucet speak from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at CI’s Grand Salon on Thursday, Oct. 20.
Crucet will be speaking about her latest novel “Make Your Home Among Strangers,” which is fiction, but rich with insight and atmosphere from her experience growing up in Hialeah, a suburb of Miami that is 95 percent Hispanic.
Like her character, Crucet was the first person in her family to attend college. For even more culture shock, Crucet attended prestigious Cornell University in upstate New York.
“You leave home and then when you come back you have a kind of perspective that you didn't have before that in some way problematizes your relationship with your family,” Crucet told National Public Radio’s Arun Rath in a 2015 interview. “You just start to be able to have a sort of double vision about them and who they are and how you grew up that can be really painful.”
The decision on which book to choose for this year’s Campus Reading Celebration was made with a campus vote. Debi Hoffmann, Head of Public Services and Outreach for CI’s John Spoor Broome Library, said Crucet’s book was the overwhelming choice among more than 200 who voted.
Hoffmann, who co-chaired a nine-person Campus Reading Celebration committee, said the criteria for choosing a book are fairly broad, and the book can be fiction or non-fiction, but the author has to be living and willing to visit CI’s campus.
“Given our multicultural and international student population, we encourage books that reflect this,” Hoffmann said.
Hoffmann said the Campus Reading Celebration is a perfect opportunity for students, staff, community members and faculty to come together with the common experience of having read the book.
“It’s putting people with differing backgrounds and experience levels reading the same book,” Hoffmann said. “Whether you agree or disagree with others who read the book, there are always questions raised that you never thought about. Not just by agreeing, but by disagreeing. It makes you see things differently.”
Those with a CI identification card will be admitted to the event for free; $5 for students, staff and faculty from other campuses, and $10 for the general public.
Crucet will present her keynote address in the Grand Salon at 6:00 pm, followed by question and answer period and a book signing. Doors open at 5:30 pm.
For more, click on: http://www.csuci.edu/crc/.
Limited parking is available on campus with the purchase of a $6 daily permit; follow signs to the parking permit dispensers. Free parking is available at the Camarillo Metrolink Station/Lewis Road with bus service to and from the campus. Riders should board the CI Vista Bus to the campus; the cash-only fare is $1.25 each way. Buses arrive and depart from the Camarillo Metrolink Station every 30 minutes from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday. For exact times, check the schedule at www.goventura.org.
Persons who, because of a special need or condition, would like to request an accommodation should contact Disability Accommodations and Support Services at 805-437-3331 or email accommodations@csuci.edu as soon as possible, but no later than seven (7) business days prior to the event, so that appropriate arrangements can be made.
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About California State University Channel Islands
CSU Channel Islands(CI) is the only four-year, public university in Ventura County and is known for its interdisciplinary, multicultural and international perspectives, and its emphasis on experiential and service learning. CI’s strong academic programs focus on business, sciences, liberal studies, teaching credentials, and innovative master’s degrees. Students benefit from individual attention, up-to-date technology, and classroom instruction augmented by outstanding faculty research. CI has been designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is committed to serving students of all backgrounds from the region and beyond. Connect with and learn more by visiting CI's Social Media.