Riders Read

📘"Diaries of War: Two Visual Accounts from Ukraine and Russia by Nora Krug"

Immediately after Russia began its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Nora Krug reached out to two anonymous subjects—“K.,” a Ukrainian journalist, and “D.,” a Russian artist—and began what would become a year of correspondence. Based on her weekly interviews with K. and D., Krug created this collection of illustrated accounts that chronicles two contrasting viewpoints from opposing sides of the first year in this ongoing war.

Published as an Op-Comic series with the Los Angeles Times, with a portion of the entries unique to this book, Diaries of War is a harrowing real-time record of an international conflict that continues to devastate countless lives.

Pengine Random House book webpage

Nora Krug's website

Download Riders Read reading guide

See the Riders Read reading guide Flipbook

📚 "Witness"

This year, the theme is "Witness." "The theme of witness reminds us that we each have a responsibility to pay attention to the events unfolding around us, even when we feel powerless to change them. Bearing witness means refusing to look away. It is an act of presence, of seeing clearly and remembering truthfully.

In times of injustice, war, or suffering, witnessing becomes a form of moral engagement, a way to honor those whose voices may be silenced. While we may not always be able to intervene directly, we can choose to learn, to speak, and to carry stories forward. In doing so, we become part of a collective memory that shapes how the future understands the past."

📚 The Common Read Program

Riders Read, the Yavapai College common read program, is an opportunity to spark conversation among the college community on a variety of important topics that affect us all. By encouraging engagement with each other, with noted authors, and with the written word itself, Riders Read models the kind of learning that is a hallmark of an active and participatory academic experience.

Throughout the year, the Riders Read program partners with the YC library, faculty members, student support staff, the residence halls, the Literary Southwest program, and the wider community to sponsor a variety of events designed to raise questions, examine assumptions, and prompt discussion on challenging topics. The series of films, book discussions, roundtable dialogues, academic activities, and other events culminates in the author’s visit and reading.

This event provides YC students, staff, and faculty an opportunity to interact with some of the most prominent and celebrated voices in American literature while showcasing Yavapai College’s role as a provider of significant cultural events available for all county residents.

Each year, the common read program will present an academic theme that will highlight interdisciplinary connections, common experiences, and the ideas that unite us all. Every member of the YC community has insights to share, and the goal of the common read is to facilitate those conversations through engagement with the written word. Because we are all Riders. And Riders read.

📅 Events

Details coming soon.

👥 Committee Members

• Suzanne Waldenberger
• Laura Cline
• Lynn Durkee
• Andrea Schaben
• Nate Cloyd
• Tricia Berlowe
• Jimmy Hart
• Michael Sigler
• Maria Grant