In addition, a special event is planned for Alumni Week on April 20, which includes a discussion with the Deep Read team about the practice of reading deeply and the themes of Gyasi’s book, as well as in-person and virtual conversations with fellow alumni, Provosts, and current students. “We are especially excited to finally meet many of our Deep Readers in person.” “Now in its third year, The Deep Read continues to grow in enthusiasm and participation among the UC Santa Cruz community and beyond,” said Irena Polić, the managing director of The Humanities Institute who co-founded The Deep Read with professor of literature Sean Keilen. That will include regular weekly emails that will unpack different aspects of the book with the guidance of UC Santa Cruz professors, online forums to ask questions and connect with fellow Deep Readers, and a salon where participating professors will lead a discussion with UCSC students and other members of the Deep Read community joining either virtually or in person.Īll of this culminates in an event on at the Quarry Amphitheater at UC Santa Cruz where Deep Readers will be able to experience a live discussion on Transcendent Kingdom with the book’s author Yaa Gyasi.

The 2022 Deep Read series officially gets underway in mid-April, with a host of online and in-person discussions of Transcendent Kingdom. Using the methodology of a scientist, Gifty seeks to understand the roots of the drug addiction that killed her brother and her mother’s depression even as she wrestles with how her religious upbringing can coexist with her secular scientific training.Īs with Gyasi’s debut novel Homegoing, the book reaches beyond the world of these characters to touch on larger issues like the often difficult assimilation of immigrants into American life, the expectations placed on first-generation students as they enter higher education, opioid addiction, and mental health. The book follows Gifty, a daughter of Ghanaian immigrants and a Neuroscience PhD student at Stanford, as she navigates the complexities of being a first-generation scientist of color. The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz is excited to announce the return of The Deep Read, the annual program that invites students, faculty, and other curious minds throughout the world to join in a lively discussion about a recent book.įor 2022, we’ll read Transcendent Kingdom, the acclaimed novel from Brooklyn-based author Yaa Gyasi.

Transcendent kingdom yaa gyasi