TAMIU Reading the Globe Lecture Held
Texas A&M International University’s (TAMIU) Reading the Globe Program (RTG) hosted a special lecture on Friday, Oct. 13 at noon in the Center for the Fine and Performing Arts Recital Hall.
The lecture was delivered by this year's Fall 2023 Campus Common Read author Marie Mutsuki Mockett. Her novel, Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye, was the selected Fall Campus Common Read for TAMIU First-Year Students.
The novel also serves as the Common Read for the City of Laredo’s “One City, One Book” program, which also hosted a lecture by Mutsuki Mockett Saturday, Oct. 14 at the Joe A. Guerra Laredo Public Library. That day, a meet and greet with the author was scheduled at 9:30 a.m., followed by an author presentation at 10:30 a.m. The event was free and open to the public.
The memoir examines the author’s grief against the backdrop of the 2011 Great East Earthquake in Japan. The book was a Barnes and Noble Discover pick and a finalist for the 2016 PEN Open Book Award, Indies Choice Best Book for Nonfiction, and the Northern California Book Award for Creative Nonfiction.
Born to an American father and Japanese mother, Mutsuki Mockett’s family owns a Buddhist temple 25 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. In March 2011, after the earthquake and a following tsunami, radiation levels prohibited the burial of her Japanese grandfather's bones. As Japan mourned thousands of people lost in the disaster, Mutsuki Mockett also grieved for her American father, who had died unexpectedly.
Reading the Globe is a University-wide initiative aimed at engaging all members of the University and the surrounding community. It nurtures a common purpose and sense of belonging, supporting the mission of University College. Since 2008, the program has enabled all First-Year students to engage in a selected book with an international focus through their Fall University Seminar.
Mutsuki Mockett graduated from Columbia University with a degree in East Asian Languages and Civilizations, where she wrote about female shamans in Japan. She received her MFA from the Bennington Writers Seminars.
The lecture served as the capstone event of the Fall 2023 for the University’s RTG program. Students can apply for selection as an RTG Ambassadors by taking part in an essay competition for their chance to participate in a study abroad trip to Japan this Spring 2024.
For additional information on the RTG program, contact University College at 956.326.2134, email readingtheglobe@tamiu.edu or visit https://www.tamiu.edu/readingtheglobe/index.shtml.
