St. Bonaventure University has selected “Educated: A Memoir” by Dr. Tara Westover as its All Bonaventure Reads (ABR) book for 2018-19.

“Educated” is an account of the struggle for self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty, and of the grief that comes from severing one’s closest ties. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one’s life through new eyes, and the will to change it.

The university will welcome Westover to campus Wednesday, Sept. 26, to deliver a keynote address to members of the Class of 2022. The talk will be open to the public and will be held at 7 p.m. in the Reilly Center Arena.

As part of the All Bonaventure Reads initiative, first-year students at St. Bonaventure will receive a copy of “Educated” during Orientation and be asked to read the book and write an essay reflecting on it as their first college assignment. Students will be engaged in conversations about the book’s themes in their first-year seminar course, SBU 101, and various campuswide events during the upcoming academic year.

As their first official college assignment, members of St. Bonaventure’s Class of 2022 have been asked to read this year’s All Bonaventure Reads selection and then write a reflection on it.

Winners of the Provost's Essay Contest will be invited to a dinner with author Tara Westover and have their work published.

[ Provost's Letter to New Students ]

2017: “Nobody” by Marc Lamont Hill
2016: “The Boys in the Bunkhouse” by Dan Barry
2015: “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson
2014: “The Promise of a Pencil” by Adam Braun
2013: “Full Body Burden” by Kristen Iversen
2012: “In the Sanctuary of Outcasts” by Neil White
2011: “Little Princes” by Conor Grennan
2010: “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot
2009: “Listening is an Act of Love” edited by David Isay
2008: “Left to Tell” by Immaculee Ilibagiza
2007: “Fast Food Nation” by Eric Schlosser
2006: “A Hope in the Unseen” by Ron Suskind

• Learn more about Tara Westover
•  Follow @tarawestover on Twitter
• Author's website
• Campus Keynote: Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2018, 7 p.m., Reilly Center Arena; public invited

The New York Times

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Vogue

"Tara Westover’s one-of-a-kind memoir is about the shaping of a mind…In briskly paced prose, she evokes a childhood that completely defined her. Yet it was also, she gradually sensed, deforming her."