College partners with Great Michigan Read.

VICTORY TOWNSHIP – The public is invited to a book talk and conversation with Emily St. John Mandel, author of “Station Eleven,” as part of West Shore Community College’s participation in the Michigan Humanities Council’s Great Michigan Read.

The presentation will take place on Wed., Nov. 4, at 7:30 p.m. in WSCC’s Center Stage Theater. Mandel will discuss her work, answer questions and sign books following the presentation.

            West Shore’s participation in the Great Michigan Read is particularly special this year because students and faculty from the college served on the nominating committee that chose the book.

According to Professor of English and Education Seán Henne, who chaired the regional selection committee, the voices of the students were instrumental in the book’s selection.  “I’ve participated in several Great Michigan Read selections in the past,” says Henne, “but this one stands out to me both because this is the first time we’ve chosen a work of contemporary fiction and because our own West Shore students, Jamie Dorman and Emma Plummer, played such a key role.”

“Station Eleven” is the story of the Traveling Symphony, a troupe of Shakespearean actors and orchestral musicians traveling the shores of the Great Lakes in a post-apocalyptic Michigan, striving to maintain their humanity in the altered landscape of a world where 99% of the population has been wiped out by a flu pandemic. “Station Eleven” is set in a world turned upside down, but is ultimately an exploration of people surviving and remaking their lives by preserving the qualities that make us human.

The College encourages members of the community to read the book, participate in the statewide conversation about it, and come to see the author on Nov. 4.  The event is free, but tickets are required.  Three tickets per person can be obtained from the college book store in person or by calling 231-843-5507.

For more information about the event or about the Great Michigan Read, contact Henne at 231-843-5859 or swhenne@westshore.edu.