‘Cabrillo Reads Ellison’ Book Forum and Dialogue

Cabrillo College presents a community-wide book forum and dialogue on Ralph Ellison’s classic 1952 novel, The Invisible Man, this Thursday, March 1 at 7 p.m. at the Cabrillo College Music Recital Hall, 6500 Soquel Dr. in Aptos.

The event is presented by the Cabrillo College English and History Departments, the Cabrillo Honors Transfer Program and the Cabrillo College Library.

The evening’s book club-inspired dialogue began over Cabrillo’s winter break, when the college community was encouraged to read the award-winning novel. Then, in preparation for this forum, a group of faculty members met to discuss the issues of identity, social justice, race and politics that Ellison raised in the novel.

“The idea for a community wide book club originated in a faculty meeting on the literary canon, talking about titles … what’s in, what’s out, and Ellison came up,” explains Cabrillo History Instructor Michael Mangin. “The consensus among the group was that everyone was supposed to have read the novel in school, but had they? So the idea came up to have a Cabrillo Book Club to bring everyone together in an academic pursuit.”

Members of the community are invited to share in the dialogue and discuss ideas and concepts from the book on March 1 at 7 p.m. in the Music Recital Hall, Aptos Campus. Those who have not read the book in its entirety are encouraged to read the chapter "Battle Royale," which will be a focus of the evening’s discussion.