Dal Reads

Picture of the the cover Butter Honey Pig Bread along with the Dal Reads seal. Click the image to borrow the eBook from the Dalhousie Libraries.

2022/23 title: The Skin We're In by Desmond Cole

2022/23 Program & Events

Title selection for Dal Reads 2022/23

The Skin We're In, Desmond Cole

This book is available as an ebook and an audiobook through the Dalhousie Libraries. For more information on how to access the ebook, please consult the ebook LibGuide.   

About the book:

In this bracing, revelatory work of award-winning journalism, celebrated writer and activist Desmond Cole punctures the naive assumptions of Canadians who believe we live in a post-racial nation.
 
Chronicling just one year in the struggle against racism in this country, The Skin We're In reveals in stark detail the injustices faced by Black Canadians on a daily basis: the devastating effects of racist policing, the hopelessness produced by an education system that fails Black children, the heartbreak of those separated from their families by discriminatory immigration laws, and more. Cole draws on his own experiences as a Black man in Canada, and locates the deep cultural, historical, and political roots of each event. What emerges is a personal, painful, and comprehensive picture of entrenched, systemic inequality.

About Dal Reads

Dal Reads is designed to encourage people in the Dalhousie community to share their love of books. Launched in 2009, the program brings the Dalhousie community together to read the same book and take part in programming related to the book.

Programming may include author readings, book club-type discussions, film viewings, and other events and opportunities to celebrate a shared love of reading. In addition, faculty members may choose to include the Dal Reads book in their course curriculum.

Dal Reads aims to provide a common intellectual experience, and encourage discussion as the development of new and innovative programming.

 

Selection Criteria

A Dal Reads book:

  • must be able to generate discussion and exchange of ideas;
  • must be appealing to a broad range of readers of varying ages, literacy levels, and life experience;
  • must be in print and available for purchase in paperback, ebook, and audiobook; and
  • must be strongly written with elements that will generate excitement among readers.

 

Goals

Dal Reads aims to:

  • provide students with a common intellectual experience that will serve as an introduction to both Dalhousie University and post-secondary academic life in general.
  • encourage reading for pleasure.
  • provide an opportunity for connection with students, faculty, staff, undergrads, grads, regardless of area of study.
  • provide a unique social activity.
  • draw on the social elements of reading.
  • provide an opportunity for the Dalhousie Libraries to promote the collection in a new way.
  • connect with the curriculum and other university activities and interests.

 

Dal Reads Titles 2009–2023

2009–2011 The Book of Negroes, Lawrence Hill
2012-2013 Twenty-Six, Leo McKay Jr. (partnership with One Book Nova Scotia)
2013-2014 Fauna, Alissa York (partnership with One Book Nova Scotia)
2014-2015 Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan
2015-2016 A Year of Living Generously, Lawrence Scanlan
2016-2017 The Hermit of Africville, Jon Tattrie
2017-2018 We Were Not the Savages, Daniel Paul
2018-2019 Brown Girl in the Ring, Nalo Hopkinson
2019-2020 Song of Rita Joe: Autobiography of a Mi'kmaw Poet, Rita Joe 
2020-2021 The Marrow Thieves, Cherie Dimaline
2021-2022 Butter Honey Pig Bread, Francesca Ekwuyasi
2022-2023 The Skin We're In, Desmond Cole