The Mac community kicked off the new academic year with First Thursday, an opening convocation featuring Macalester English professor and Man Booker Prize winner Marlon James. In a talk exploring life-changing literature, James referenced at least nine books that shaped his own life, from Toni Morrison’s Sula to Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. As he told the campus community, “There’s an adventure you don’t know awaits you, a challenge you don’t know will strengthen you, a desire you don’t know you have, a prison you need to break out of, a level you didn’t know you could reach, a fear you didn’t know you could face, a person you didn’t know you were, or even a reason for living that you didn’t know you would need. And sure, you can find these things anywhere. But maybe the thing you didn’t know is that the thing you are looking for, you will find the very next time you pick up a book.”

November 1 2016

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