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Five years ago, Lauinger
Library began reserving one month in the Kerbs Exhibit
Area’s
schedule to recognize the First-Year Student Academic
Workshop, a Provost’s Office annual event. The
selected novels, by international (non-U.S.) authors,
provide a unique opportunity to highlight the Library’s
specialized and general collections as they relate
to the novels’ overall themes, major characters,
geographic locations, etc. This year, firstyear students
discussed Knots by Somali author Nuruddin Farah, and
the Kerbs Exhibit Area featured the complementary
exhibit, Knots by Nuruddin Farah: First-Year Academic
Workshop 2007, through the month of September. |
Many of the Workshop novels
have dealt with journeys. Cambara, Knots’ main character, journeys to Mogadishu
after losing her son. She has spent most of her life in
Toronto and must adjust to life in Somalia. But the novel
is also about Cambara’s life voyage, her process
of grieving, and her personal journey to understand her
home. The Library’s Russell J. Bowen collection
of rare books provides examples of titles about Somalia’s
own journey, its turbulent history, and its struggle for
identity. In addition, the exhibit displays items from
the Library’s Lisa Sergio Papers. Author and radio
commentator Lisa Sergio visited Somalia in 1977, and she
intended to publish a book, Somalia—Self-Reliant
People in a Barren Land. Although the book was never published,
it is a testament to how much the journey impressed her.
The Sergio Papers include the entire manuscript, and page
one was on display.
Knots is the second novel in a trilogy by Farah. Lauinger
Library has a number of Farah’s novels in its general
collections and many were on view in the exhibit. The
First-Year Student Academic Workshop and its accompanying
exhibit always offer opportunities for discovery—and
rediscovery—within the Library’s rich collections.
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