Belonging by Nora Krug

Selection

Academic Year:

2021

Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home

The Common Reading Program at Appalachian State proudly announces the 2021-2022 book selection: Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home by Nora Krug. The book has received a number of awards, most notably the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography.

Krug's exploration of her family history leads her to explore her own cultural and individual identity as well. The Boston Globe calls her search one that "erases the boundaries between comics, scrapbooking, and collage as she endeavors to make sense of 20th-century history, the Holocaust, her German heritage, and family's place in it all."

Krug's poignant, multimodal graphic memoir reminds us that identity cannot be confined to a single time, place, culture or family. Regardless of our backgrounds and present circumstances, all of us are continually exploring who we are, where we are from, and where we are going. More than a record or document, Belonging is for all its readers an invitation to continue
searching and learning.

Dr. Don Presnell, Director of the Common Reading Program, says, "We've taken a new direction with this year's book, as it represents the first time in the history of the program that we've selected a graphic novel." He also notes that the story and themes of Belonging will be especially meaningful for first-year students, whose entry into higher education will begin a new
chapter in their own personal and educational journeys.

Appalachian will welcome Nora Krug for a series of year-long virtual events beginning in mid- September, 2021. The year-long Common Reading experience will include a variety of activities, speakers, and events. Details will be made available as they become finalized. Check the Common Reading website for updates and other information.

About the Author

Nora Krug

Website

Nora Krug is a German-American author and illustrator whose drawings and visual narratives have appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde diplomatique and A Public Space, and in anthologies published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Simon and Schuster and Chronicle Books.

Photo by Nina Subin

Supplemental Materials

Web Resources:

Nora Krug App State Common Reading 2021-2022 (YouTube Video)

Events

Main Events

Tuesday, September 14, 2021, 7 p.m.
YouTube livestream event: A Common Reading Conversation with Belonging author Nora Krug

Presented with support from The Schaefer Center Presents Series and the Office of Arts and Cultural Programs.

Join Common Reading Program Director Dr. Don Presnell and co-hosts Dr. Craig Fischer (English); Dr. Beverly Moser (Languages, Literatures & Cultures); and Dr. Thomas Pegelow Kaplan (Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies) as they discuss this year’s Common Reading selection, Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home with author Nora Krug.

Tuesday, October 19, 2021, 7 p.m.
YouTube livestream event: Another Common Reading Conversation with Belonging author Nora Krug

Our second of four YouTube livestream events with the author this academic year will be Tuesday, October 19, 2021, at 7 p.m.

Presented with support from The Schaefer Center Presents Series and the Office of Arts and Cultural Programs.

Join Common Reading Program Director Dr. Don Presnell (First Year Seminar) and co-hosts Dr. Jason DeHart (Reading Education and Special Education); Dr. Damiana Gibbons Pyles (Media Studies); and Dr. Laurie Ramirez (Middle Grades Teacher Education) as they discuss this year’s Common Reading selection, Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home, with author Nora Krug.

For disability or accessibility accomodations, please visit the Office of Disability Resources.

Wednesday, February 16, 2022, 2 p.m.
YouTube Livestream Event: First-Year Students in Conversation with Common Reading author Nora Krug

Our third of four YouTube livestream events with Belonging author Nora Krug this academic year will be Wednesday, February 16, 2022, at 2 p.m.

Presented with support from The Schaefer Center Presents Series and the Office of Arts and Cultural Programs.

Join Common Reading Program Director Dr. Don Presnell (First Year Seminar) and a panel of first-year App State students as they discuss this year’s Common Reading selection, Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home, with author Nora Krug.

YouTube livestream event #3 link: First-Year Students in Conversation with Belonging author Nora Krug

For disability or accessibility accomodations, please visit the Office of Disability Resources.

Wednesday, March 23, 2022, 3:00 pm
YouTube Livestream Event: A Final Common Reading Conversation with Belonging author Nora Krug

Our fourth & final YouTube livestream event with Belonging author Nora Krug this academic year will be Wednesday, March 23, 2022, at 3 p.m.

Presented with support from The Schaefer Center Presents Series and the Office of Arts and Cultural Programs and in conjunction with Appalachian State’s Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies.

Join Common Reading Program Director Dr. Don Presnell (First Year Seminar) and a panel of App State faculty members as they discuss this year’s Common Reading selection, Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home, with author Nora Krug. Panelists include Cary Curlee (Appalachian Studies and First Year Seminar); Dr. Thomas Pegelow Kaplan (Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies); and Adrian Rice (poet and First Year Seminar faculty member).

For disability or accessibility accomodations, please visit the Office of Disability Resources.

Related Events

Thursday, August 26, 2021, 7:30-9:00 p.m.
Center Research Colloquium with Dr. Noah Shenker (Monash University, Australia) on Holocaust Testimony

Thursday, September 2, 2021, 7:30-9:00 p.m.
Center Lecture by Professor Emerita Carolyn Ellis (University of South Florida) on "Being with Jerry: Compassionate and Collaborative Research with a Survivor of the Holocaust”

Tuesday, October 9, 2021, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Dr. Natalia Aleksiun, noted Historian of Modern Polish Jewry, to Speak at ASU

The Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies invites the public to an online lecture by Dr. Natalia Aleksiun, the Harry Rich Professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Florida-Gainesville. Dr. Aleksiun's public talk is entitled "Conscious History: Polish Jewish Historians Before the Holocaust" -- also the title of her most recent monograph -- and will take place on Tues., October 19, from 7:00 - 8:30 pm EST.

For more information, please visit https://holocaust.appstate.edu/events