BY JORDAN D’AURIO
New York Times best-selling author David Levithan spoke to the Nichols College community Oct. 5 about his book Every Day, which was selected as this year’s “Nichols Reads” book, and answered questions posed by first-year students.
Nichols Reads asks incoming first-year students to participate in a shared reading experience during the summer before their freshman year on campus. Reading the selected book then carries into engaging in both curricular and extracurricular activities through courses such as Expository Writing and Nichols’ signature program, the Professional Development Seminar.
Kellie Deys, assistant professor of English and administrative director of the Honors Scholar Program, said: “The idea of the Nichols Reads Program is to encourage students to enjoy reading, to be able to find literary themes, and to think about them in relationship to their own lives.”
“It’s interesting to see all the conversations that come from Every Day and how engaged the students were. The book was supposed to be a conversation starter, so its nice that Nichols College provided a forum for everyone to talk about it,” said Levithan, referring to Nichols Reads.
Every Day introduces readers to a “wise, wildly unique” love story about a teen who wakes up every morning in a different body, living a different life.
“I was inspired to write this book because of the implications of what not having a set body would be like,” said Levithan.
Levithan started his presentation by reading an excerpt from chapter 1.
The gym was packed with students of not only first-year students, but also upperclassmen.
“Even though I did not participate in reading Every Day, I was able to get such insight on what the book was about and was able to connect to both the book and the author without having read it,” said senior Kelly Cusick, Hospitality Management.
After Levithan’s brief reading, he opened the floor to questions. One of the questions asked about the emotions Levithan had when writing the book and he responded that he feels the emotions the main character is feeling in the story whether it’s happy, sad, or mad. Another question that was asked was about a certain place or area in which he liked to write in. Levithan responded saying he didn’t have a specific spot and he normally wrote at his desk in his apartment but added that he doesn’t get as distracted if he writes in someone else’s kitchen table or living room.
First-year student Adam Morrison, undecided, said: “From this event and reading Every Day, I learned about how the author created the book and realized you never really know what someone’s going through until you see it from their perspective.”
Another first-year student, Paul Parks, Business Management, noted: “David Levithan challenged the idea that it is what is on the inside that matters, providing a unique perspective through his novel and speech.”
After the Q&A section was over, Levithan signed books and answered additional questions from students.
