One Book, One U Selection for Academic Year 2024-2025
The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation’s Neglect of a Deadly Disease
by Daisy Hernández
The University of Miami has supported the One Book, One U program since 2017 when Professors Chantel Acevedo (English) and Osamudia James (Law) received a SEEDS grant to establish a common reading program. The Office of Institutional Culture then became a strategic partner, citing the program’s alignment with the Quad Report for the Culture of Belonging and the program continued its mission of promoting discussions of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In 2020, University of Miami Libraries announced their plans to become the official home for the One Book, One U program. As a central entity serving all members of the university community, the Libraries are uniquely positioned to ensure that the program continues to have a significant impact across our campuses.
Our selection for 2024-25 is Daisy Hernández’s The Kissing Bug, a top 10 best nonfiction book of 2021 – Time Magazine and selected for the National Book Foundation’s Science & Literature. Hernández’s own family story inspired the book. After watching her aunt endure a painful yet unnamed disease for decades, Daisy spent seven years researching and uncovering the facts of the invisible Chagas disease.
Through various activities and events in the 2024-25 academic year, we look forward to reaffirming One Book, One U’s mission to use shared reading and engagement to attend to the interrelated issues of climate change, structural racism, inequality, and other social justice concerns. As in the past, we will send an invitation to units on campus to submit ideas for programming related to the book’s themes and we will provide updates on the program as they become available.
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Schedule of Events
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI EVENTS
Presentation & Panel Discussion:
A Voice for Chagas: Bringing Awareness to a Neglected Tropical Disease
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Doors open 9:30 a.m.
Program 10 a.m.
Louis Calder Memorial Library
First Floor Collaboration Space
1601 NW 10th Avenue
Miami, Florida 33136
Registration Information
Save the Date: Keynote Event with author Daisy Hernandez
February 13, 2025
Doors Open: 6 p.m.
Program: 6:30 p.m.
Registration Information
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