Nominate Your Pick for the 2027 Common Reading Experience Book
Submit suggestions for next year's selection by Nov. 1
OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi's Common Reading Experience committee is asking for help finding the book incoming first-year students will read as they join Ole Miss in 2027.
Nominations for the 2027 Common Reading Experience selection are open to all members of campus and will close on Nov. 1. The selected book will be delivered to all freshman and transfer students ahead of the 2027 Fall Convocation.
"Each year, our campus comes together around a common book," Stephen Monroe, chair and associate professor of writing and rhetoric. "UM's common reading program is led by faculty, staff and students and supported by leaders in the Lyceum.
"Our university is stronger because we read together. Please help us find a great book by nominating one of your favorites."
Since 2011, the Ole Miss campus has worked together to choose books that help guide new members of the community during their first year. Book recommendations must be written by a living author in the last five years, fewer than 400 pages and accessible in paperback.
A selection committee led by Natasha Jeter, assistant vice chancellor for wellness and student success, and Jason Ritchie, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, will select the chosen book.
The selection's author will also be invited to speak at the 2027 Fall Convocation, and the book will become a key part of fall classes and discussion in EDHE classes throughout the year.
Thomas Fuller, a New York Times correspondent and author of the 2026 Common Reading Experience book, "The Boys of Riverside" (Vintage Books, 2024), spoke to students this fall about his journey telling the story of a championship season for a deaf football team from California.
Other previous selections for the Common Read include: "Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work," by Dave Isay; "The Education of a Lifetime," by Chancellor Emeritus Robert Khayat; "The Anthropocene Reviewed," by John Green; and "Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier," by Arthur C. Brooks.
Nominate books here for the steering committee's consideration.
Top: Nominations are open for the university's 2027 Common Reading Experience selection, the book all incoming first-year students will read ahead of their first year on campus. Photo by Logan Kirkland/ Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services
By
Clara Turnage
Campus
Office, Department or Center
Published
October 09, 2026