The One Book, One U program offers an opportunity for the University of Miami community to explore issues of belonging through the reading of a selected text and to engage the entire University community in dialogue about the human experience. Each year, the University Libraries work with various campus partners and co-sponsors to offer a schedule of events related to the book’s theme, including a signature event with the author, traditionally held in the spring semester. Free copies of the book are often made available at select events.

Announcing the One Book One U selection for 2026-2027

“World of Wonders”
by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

The University of Miami’s selection for 2026-2027 is Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s “World of Wonders,” a New York Times #1 bestseller and a New York Times #1 bestseller and a Kirkus Prize Finalist for Nonfiction. A  poet celebrates the wonders of nature in a collection of essays that could almost serve as a coming-of-age memoir. The daughter of an Indian father and Filipino mother, Nezhukumatathil was often the only brown face in her classrooms, and she sought lessons from nature on how to adapt, protect herself, and conform or fit in but still be able to stand strong on her own. She shares those lessons throughout these frequently enchanting essays. Warm, lyrical, and gorgeously illustrated by Fumi Nakamura, World of Wonders is a book of sustenance and joy.

Through various activities and events in the 2026-2027 academic year, we look forward to reaffirming One Book, One U’s mission to use shared reading and engagement to explore the interrelated issues that foster or impede a culture of belonging.

Previous Selections

“The Vanishing Half”

by Brit Bennett

“The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation’s Neglect of a Deadly Disease”

by Daisy Hernández

“If I Survive You”

by Jonathan Escoffery

“The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World”

by Jeff Goodell

“Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City”

by Matthew Desmond

“So You Want to Talk About Race”

by Ijeoma Oluo

“Brother, I’m Dying”

by Edwidge Danticat

“The Veins of the Ocean”

by Patricia Engel

“Make Your Home Among Strangers”

by Jennine Capó Crucet