About the Book
The 25th anniversary of One Read is here! This year’s selection, “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt follows a delightful cast of characters who embark in unlikely friendships while navigating life’s complexities.
At 70 years old, Tova lives alone in her childhood home and cleans the local Sowell Bay Aquarium each night to keep busy and enjoy the quiet company of the sea creatures. Her story collides with that of Cameron, a chronically unemployed hard-luck case, abandoned by his mother at the age of nine, who has travelled to town in search of the father he never knew. Meanwhile, a giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus helps Tova uncover the truth about her son’s mysterious death by drowning 30 years ago. An unlikely and charming friendship is at the center of this heartwarming novel about grief, family, navigating the life changes that come with aging and the intelligence of the animal world.
About the Author
Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Shelby Van Pelt lives in the suburbs of Chicago with her family. “Remarkably Bright Creatures,” her first novel, was an instant New York Times Bestseller. In 2023, she was awarded the Heartland Prize for Fiction and the McLaughlin-Esstman-Stearns First Novel Prize from The Writer’s Center.
Biographical information and author photo courtesy of https://shelbyvanpelt.com/.
Last November, we asked the community to suggest books to be considered for One Read 2026. Earlier this year, the One Read Reading Panel met and narrowed the list of nearly 200 titles to 10, and now we have our top two finalists: “Playground” by Richard Powers and “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt.
Read on to find out more about each book being considered for One Read 2026.
Continue reading “One Read 2026 Finalists”
As part of this year’s One Read program, we invited you to take inspiration from Daniel Mason’s “North Woods” by telling a story that emphasizes its setting in 250 words or less.
Thank you to everyone who entered and shared your works of flash fiction.
Our two winners are A.E. Cramer and Jessica Piccone. Honorable mention go to Sib Wylds.
We are excited to share these stories with you! Continue reading “Winners: Flash Fiction Writing Contest”
“It suggests the trouble is not… personal. Rather, a trouble of the place.” ~ Daniel Mason, “North Woods”
In this year’s One Read selection, author Daniel Mason follows a series of inhabitants of a single plot of land over centuries, and the North Woods interact with these tenants in compelling ways. Taking inspiration from “North Woods” we invite you to write a story with an emphasis on its setting in 250 words or less. Your piece can be set anywhere in time or space, and its tone can be cheerful, pessimistic or anywhere in between, but you must emphasize the setting in a meaningful way.
Starting September 1, entries may be submitted using this form, mailed or dropped off at any library or bookmobile. (See full rules below for details.) Winning entries and honorable mentions will be published on this site and in the Columbia Missourian, and winners will receive a $25 bookstore gift card.
Participants must be age 16 or older and residents of Boone or Callaway Counties. Read on for complete contest rules. Continue reading “One Read Flash Fiction Writing Contest”
Rooted
A One Read Art Exhibit
Orr Street Studios (106 Orr Street, Columbia)
Inspired by this year’s One Read book “North Woods,” we invite Mid-Missouri artists ages 16 and older to contribute works that explore their connection to place, nature and memory, or home and family history. Roots may be literal or metaphorical, connected to histories embedded in the physical land or in a personal, internal landscape.
Cash prizes will be awarded for three winners, sponsored by Columbia’s Office of Cultural Affairs. The third place winner will receive $50, second place $75 and first place $125.
The exhibit will take place September 1-15, and can be viewed at a reception on Friday, September 5 or during Orr Street Studios’ open hours. (See www.orrstreetstudios.com for details.)
“I have found my corner of the world, planted home and garden; both are thriving.”
― Daniel Mason, “North Woods”
Submission Details Continue reading “Call for Submissions: One Read Art Exhibit”
About the Book
This year’s One Read selection, Daniel Mason’s “North Woods,” follows an extraordinary succession of inhabitants of a single house in the woods of New England, exploring the many ways we’re connected to our environment and to one another across time, language and space.
Beginning with a young couple fleeing their Puritan colony, the book links the stories of an eccentric apple grower and his spinster daughters, a landscape painter, a clairvoyant, a man with schizophrenia and others. Mason expertly employs a range of literary styles, including letters, pulp journalism and speculative fiction, to tell the story of the United States through the lens of a single location. An epic, ambitious and beautiful book.
About the Author
Daniel Mason is a physician and author of “The Piano Tuner” (2002), “A Far Country” (2007), “The Winter Soldier” (2018), “A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth” (2020) –a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize — and “North Woods” (2023). An assistant professor in the Stanford University Department of Psychiatry, his research and teaching interests include the subjective experience of mental illness and the influence of literature, history and culture on the practice of medicine.
Biographical information and author photo courtesy of https://www.danielmasonbooks.com/.
Last November, we asked the community to suggest books to be considered for One Read 2025. Earlier this year, the One Read Reading Panel met and narrowed the list of nearly 200 titles to 10, and now we have our top two finalists: “The Measure” by Nikki Erlick and “North Woods” by Daniel Mason.
Read on to find out more about each book being considered One Read 2025.
Continue reading “One Read 2025 Finalists”
As part of this year’s One Read program, we invited you to take inspiration from Charlotte McConaghy’s “Migrations,” by telling a tale of climate fiction in 250 words or less. Climate fiction explores climate change and its impact on Earth and on society, and is generally speculative in nature.
Thank you to everyone who entered and shared your works of flash fiction.
Our two winners are Xander Kennedy and Kim Wade. Honorable mentions go to Philip Shearrer and Josh Ray.
We are excited to share these stories with you! Continue reading “Winners: Climate Flash Fiction Contest”
The 25th anniversary of One Read is here! This year’s selection, “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt follows a delightful cast of characters who embark in unlikely friendships while navigating life’s complexities.
“It suggests the trouble is not… personal. Rather, a trouble of the place.” ~ Daniel Mason, “North Woods”
Rooted
