Dear Ohio University Student,

Welcome to Ohio University and the Common Reading Project. The Common Reading Project was established at OU as a way for incoming students to share a common intellectual experience and to introduce them to college-level reading and writing expectations. Cion, a novel by OU faculty member Zakes Mda, is the Common Reader for 2008-2010.  Cion is an award-winning novel that contains elements of local history and non-fiction.  Since reading a book of this kind may challenge you, and since you will encounter Cion during the academic year, reading the book and writing about it this summer will prepare you for the work you will do with it during the year.

Purchase your copy of Cion and pick up a copy of the study questions and writing prompts at Student Orientation.

Cion, A Novel
In Cion, Toloki, the professional mourner, has come to live in America. Lured to Athens, Ohio, by an academic at the local university, Toloki makes friends with an angry young man he meets at a Halloween parade and soon falls in love with the young man's sister. Toloki endears himself to a local quilting group and his quilting provides a portal to the past, a story of two escaped slaves seeking freedom in Ohio.

Making their way north from Virginia with nothing but their mother's quilts for a map, the boys hope to find a promised land where blacks can live as free men. Their story alternates with Toloki's, as the two narratives cast a new light on America in the twenty-first century and on an undiscovered legacy of the Underground Railroad.

About the Author

Zakes Mda is a professor of creative writing at Ohio University. He lives in Athens, Ohio.