CONFERENCES & PROJECTS

One Community, One Book — All Johnson County Reads

2006 SELECTION

The Tortilla Curtain

by T. Coraghessan Boyle

The Tortilla Curtain explores Topango Canyon, home to two couples on a collision course. Los Angeles liberals Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher lead an ordered sushi-and-recycling existence in a newly gated hilltop community; he is a sensitive nature writer, she an obsessive real-estate agent. Undocumented Mexican immigrants Candido and America Rincon desperately cling to their vision of the American Dream as they fight off starvation in a makeshift camp deep in the ravine. And from the moment a freak accident brings Candido and Delaney into intimate contact, these four and their opposing worlds gradually intersect in what becomes a tragic comedy of error and misunderstanding. In the United States which defines itself as a nation of immigrants, the novel questions who gets to slam the door on whom?

The author, T. Coraghessan Boyle, is the author of 17 books of fiction. He received a PhD degree in Nineteenth Century British Literature from The University of Iowa in 1977, his MFA from the UI Writers' Workshop in 1974, and his BA in English and history from SUNY Potsdam in 1968. He was the 1997 winner of France's Prix Medicis Étranger for The Tortilla Curtain as the best foreign-language novel.

To visit the publisher's reading guide for The Tortilla Curtain, click HERE.

To download a PDF of the scheduled community forums, click HERE.

To download a PDF of discussion questions for the forums, click HERE.

A new sponsor this year, the UI Alumni Association (UIAA), will provide a university online resource site linked to other project Web sites for the 18,000 UI alumni and readers who live in Johnson and nearby counties. UIAA will include the project in its Lifelong Learning Series and highlight the project in the August issue of Iowa Alumni Magazine.

Sponsors include: UICHR, UI International Writing Program, Prairie Lights Books, UI Libraries, Coralville Public Library, Hancher Auditorium, Hills Bank & Trust Company, Iowa Book LLC, Iowa City Human Rights Commission, Iowa City Public Library, Iowa State Bank & Trust Company, UI Alumni Association, UI Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, UI Charter Committee on Human Rights, UI Department of English, UI International Programs, UI School of Social Work, North Liberty Community Library, Iowa Writers' Workshop, UI Lecture Committee, Barnes and Noble Booksellers, and University Book Store. West High School is also participating.

This program is supported, in part, by Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The views and opinions expressed by this program do not necessarily reflect those of Humanities Iowa or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact the UICHR in advance at (319) 335-3900.