The Humanities Institute (THI) has recently announced the UC Santa Cruz 2025 Deep Read book. This year, we will read James by prolific author, Percival Everett. Shortlisted for both the 2024 Booker Prize and the 2024 National Book Award, James is an adaptation of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Everett’s novel is a fugitive slave narrative told from the perspective of Twain’s enslaved character as he fights for freedom and dignity in an undignified world. We’ll consider how Everett depicts the possibility of humanity in this novel about the brutality of slavery, the performance of race, and the value of language and literacy.
The Deep Read is an annual program at UC Santa Cruz that includes community discussions, online forums, faculty salons, an undergraduate literature course, and weekly emails with insights from UC Santa Cruz faculty. The program is free and open to the public. Every year, 1,000 interested students and 200 lucky community members receive free copies of the Deep Read book. In Winter 2025, THI will host a virtual event on Huckleberry Finn featuring Professor of Literature and Twain scholar, Susan Gillman. In Spring 2025, THI will host faculty salons at which professors from different disciplines will discuss their research and approach to the book. The program will culminate on May 4th, 2025, when we will welcome Percival Everett to the Quarry Amphitheater for a conversation with Professor of Literature, Vilashini Cooppan.
As The Humanities Institute celebrates 25 years of helping students, scholars, and community members connect and work together to change the frame, this year’s book will help us reconsider the frames of reference for the American literary tradition.
This year, the Deep Read will also take part in Giving Day. If the program has inspired you, reignited your love of books, or helped change your frame of reference for a book, issue, or author, you can show your love for the Deep Read by donating to the program this Giving Day on Wednesday, November 20th, as part of UC Santa Cruz’s annual 24-hour fundraising event.
Over 10,000 people participate in the Deep Read each year in Santa Cruz and around the world. The program is for everyone, and includes current UC Santa Cruz students, staff, faculty, alumni, community members, community college students, high school students, and truly anyone, anywhere who is interested in reading deeply and engaging with important ideas. Make sure to sign up for all of the Deep Read updates at https://thi.ucsc.edu/deepread/ and join us to read and discuss James this year.
