Appalachian State University’s 2020-21 Common Reading Program selection this year is the 2019 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in General Nonfiction, RISING, by Elizabeth Rush. It was hailed by the selection committee as, “a “rigorously reported story about American vulnerability to rising seas, particularly disenfranchised people with limited access to the tools of rebuilding.”

The Department of Theatre and Dance, in collaboration with The Climate Stories Collaborative, will host selected readings from this affecting work with moving stories that lend themselves to powerful and timely theatre. App State students will interpret the stories Rush recorded of people from every corner of the country, all of whom are experiencing the dire consequences of rising sea levels and rising temperatures due to climate change.

Elizabeth will appear virtually this fall in conjunction with the program, and in person for the Spring 2021 semester.