One Book One New Orleans (OBONO) and 51ɫ have created a new partnership to connect students to the larger New Orleans community through a shared reading experience.
For the past 20 years, OBONO has selected one book each year as the focus of its citywide reading and literacy initiatives. Its 2024 selection is “Black Creole Chronicles,” a collection by former Louisiana Poet Laureate Mona Lisa Saloy. OBONO works to get the selected book into the hands of adults experiencing incarceration, low literacy, poverty, visual impairment and other obstacles that could prevent them from accessing the book.
For this first time, OBONO's selected book will also be the common reader for UNO's College of Liberal Arts, Education and Human Development. Faculty from various schools and departments—including anthropology & sociology, language & literature, the School of the Arts, and the School of Education—will incorporate Saloy's work into the curriculum for their fall semester classes.
“We are excited to launch our partnership with One Book One New Orleans as we help to establish a culture of active readers,” said Samuel Gladden, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Education and Human Development. “Students, faculty and staff will be reading the same book and sharing ideas in class, over lunch, or in other encounters on or off campus. We are especially thrilled that this year’s selection, ‘Black Creole Chronicles,’ was published by UNO Press, making this a perfect fit for the inaugural year of our project.”
In addition to sharing the book in the classroom, UNO will host programming focused on “Black Creole Chronicles” during the upcoming academic year. Students will also have opportunities to attend off-campus events hosted by OBONO, enabling them to become part of a community of readers throughout the city.
“I have wanted for years to bring the One Book experience to a college campus,” said Megan Holt, OBONO executive director. “Opportunities for engagement between students and the community have the potential to create connections that help us all build a stronger New Orleans.”
