RC Literary Arts

In 1999, the Reedley College Speakers Series began with an appearance by local peach farmer and author David Mas Masumoto. In subsequent years, the series has hosted such writers as Tobias Wolff, Philip Levine, Charles Baxter, Bernard Cooper, Joyce Carol Oates, Jane Smiley, Richard Blanco, Meg Wolitzer, Richard Rodriguez, Brian Turner, T. C. Boyle, Manuel Munoz, and Timothy Egan, to name just a few.

One Book/One College

In 2016, the RC Literary Arts adopted the 1Book/1College program, hoping to create a college- and community-wide conversation around a single work in the belief that a shared experience leads to deeper and more meaningful engagement and connection. That first 1B/1C selection was Richard Rodriguez’s Hunger of Memory followed by T.C. Boyle’s The Tortilla Curtain. For 2018, our common read was The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, featuring members of the Lacks family as our guests. In 2019, we hosted Meg Wolitzer, author of The Female Persuasion, and in 2020, we read Susan Orlean's The Library Book. 2021 brought Tommy Orange and his novel, There, There. Timothy Egan joined us in 2022 to discuss his book, The Big Burn and Sonia Segovia was with us in 2023 with her novel The Murmur of Bees. In 2024, we welcomed Javier Zamora as he spoke about his journey to the United States as detailed in his memoir, Solito. For 2024-2025, the College is reading the celebrated Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin who will be at Reedley College in May 2025.

Many instructors incorporate the One Book into their courses and/or encourage students to participate in a series of free events to encourage college-wide conversation, creativity, and community.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
by Gabrielle Zevin

On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn’t heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. They borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo: a game where players can escape the confines of a body and the betrayals of a heart, and where death means nothing more than a chance to restart and play again. This is the story of the perfect worlds Sam and Sadie build, the imperfect world they live in, and of everything that comes after success: Money. Fame. Duplicity. Tragedy.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, games as artform, technology and the human experience, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.

Gabrielle Zevin to visit Reedley College May 1, 2025

One of the best books I’ve ever read. ”

—John Green

From the New York Times best-selling author of The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry—a glorious and immersive novel about two childhood friends, once estranged, who reunite as adults to create video games, finding an intimacy in digital worlds that eludes them in their real lives.

Speaker Series Spring 2025

February 20 - David Borofka

David Borofka, founder of the Reedley College Literary Arts project and author of Longing for Impossible Things and The End of Good Intentions, will read from his latest short story collection, The Bliss of Your Attention.

March 27, 7-8PM - SFO Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

SFO Shakespeare Festival will present Romeo and Juliet on March 27 in the Fine & Performing Arts building. All are invited to a one-hour performance of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. This fast-paced show is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. Follow two star-crossed teenagers as they fall in love despite the two families’ bitter feud. Set in the 60’s when generations clashed on how to navigate change, director Katja Rivera shows how lives can change in an instant.

Located in the McClarty Center for Fine & Performing Arts
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April 3, 7-8PM - Christopher Buckley

Christopher Buckley, poet and author of Sprezzatura will give a reading and talk on April 3, in the Forum Hall. He has recently edited Naming the Lost: The Fresno Poets and is professor emeritus at the University of California-Riverside.

Located in the RC Forum Hall
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May 1, from 7-8PM - Gabrielle Zevin

Gabrielle Zevin, author of this year's One Book, One College read, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow will be in the Fine & Performing Arts Building on May 1. The novel follows the relationship between two friends who begin a successful video game company together. It is Zevin's fifth novel for adults and tenth novel overall.