Tara Westover, author of Educated: A Memoir, will speak at the University of Delaware's Mitchell Hall at 5:30 p.m., on Tuesday, Nov. 12. Afterward, Westover will sign copies of her book, which has been on the New York Times best seller list for 89 weeks.

The event is free and open to the University community, with priority seating given to first-year students. There will be overflow seating in room 130 of Sharp Lab, with a livestream of the event.

Educated: A Memoir is UD’s 2019 First Year Common Reader. Through the Common Reader program, selected works are read by UD first year students before arriving on campus for the fall semester in conjunction with other events.

Westover is an American historian and writer known for her memoir which conveys her very unusual and courageous educational journey. She was born to Mormon survivalist parents opposed to public education. She never attended school until she decided to pursue an education and experience the world outside of her Idaho community. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents – to Harvard and Cambridge University.

Educated: A Memoir is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Boston Globe bestseller, and has been named one of the 10 Best Books of 2018 by The New York Times Book Review.

About the First Year Common Reader

The First Year Common Reader is a unique opportunity for students to engage in a meaningful conversation with fellow students and to begin to share in the intellectual life of the entire UD community. The book is read before arriving on campus with speakers, films and other cultural events organized around the theme of the book.

Recent common readers have included Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren; The Underground Railroad by Colsen Whitehead; When the Emperor was Divine, by Julie Otsuka and Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson.