Open Road Media
Sherman Alexie, the author of the “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” will be speaking next week as part of the Common Read program at Rocky Mountain College.
If you want to hear author Sherman Alexie speak next week at Rocky Mountain College, Steve Germic suggests you get there early.
Germic, an associate professor of English who is helping organize the event, said there is likely to be a full house, even though the speech will be in the biggest indoor space on campus, the gymnasium of the Fortin Education Center.
If you were to ask young readers in the United States who their favorite author is, he said, “I don’t know who would be in second place. He is the guy.”
The free event will start at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 23, followed by a book signing.
Alexie’s appearance is part of this year’s Common Read, in which virtually all Rocky freshmen, and a good many upperclassmen, read the same book. The 2014 selection is Alexie’s “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.”
Published in 2007, the novel has been widely acclaimed and frequently banned, both for its coarse language and its frank portrayal of sexual matters. The book was in the headlines locally last year, after a parent complained about its inclusion on the required reading list for School District 2 high schools.
After a hearing that attracted hundreds of people — many of them high-schoolers who passionately defended “The Absolutely True Diary” — trustees voted to keep the book on the required reading list but to make some changes to the district’s procedures for opting out.
“We suspect that it was the controversy here locally that was an important factor in Sherman Alexie’s choosing to come,” Germic said.
It was also Alexie’s availability that determined the date of the speech, Germic said. It was just a coincidence that the event takes place during the High Plains BookFest, which opens with a poetry slam Oct. 22 and continues with readings, panel discussions and other events Oct. 24-26.
“The Absolutely True Diary” was suggested as the Common Read by Jacquee Dundas, an associate professor of English who was on the selection committee. The group started out with 14 nominated books, which were reviewed based on the availability of the authors, the books’ appropriateness for a wide audience and disciplinary range.
That last consideration is important, Germic said, because it influences the decision of professors in various departments to assign the book to their students. Alexie’s book is being read in a chemistry class, for instance, at the suggestion of a department researcher who has worked on substance abuse issues, which are addressed in the book.
Germic said he has taught several of Alexie’s books over the years, including “Reservation Blues,” “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven,” and “Fancy Dancing,” Alexie’s first book of poetry and Germic’s favorite by the author.
Alexie, a Spokane-Coeur d’Alene Indian, grew up in Willpinit, Wash., on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Since 1984, he has written 24 books. He has also won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the PEN/Malamud Award for Short Fiction and the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.
In addition to the classroom discussions of the book and next week’s reading, the school sponsors an essay contest with a first-place prize of $500.
Germic, who has seen Alexie speak, described him as “a compelling personality” whose ability to win over an audience “through sheer charisma is quite impressive.”
Rocky hasn’t publicized the speech much, Germic said, but “this event advertised and promoted itself.” High school teachers from all over the region have called to ask about bringing students to the event, he said, including a busload of students from Cody, Wyo.
That’s why’s he’s advising people to arrive early. The floor of the gymnasium will be reserved for ticketed members of the RMC community. The bleachers will be open for general admission.
Alexie will take questions after his talk, Germic said, but they will be questions posed by students and vetted by their instructors.
