One Book One Community program to return with focus on immigration in the US

The One Book One Community program is returning for its fourth year.

The Williamsburg Regional Library partners with William & Mary Libraries with support from Friends of Williamsburg Regional Library Foundation for the project, which seeks to bring together the community while studying one socially relevant book.

This year, the book selection is “The New American” by Micheline Aharonian Marcom.

Marcom’s novel is described as the “adventurous journey of a young Guatemalan American college student who gets deported and chooses to undertake the harrowing journey back home to California.”

The book is “a compelling story that provides an in-depth look at immigration in the United States, a topic certain to spark thoughtful discussions about issues that affect our community,” Williamsburg Regional Library Director Betsy Fowler said.

Throughout February, the libraries will hold events centered on the project, including book discussions, movie screenings, lectures and other related activities, as well as a visit from Marcom on Feb. 21.

On Feb. 1, the programming kicks off with a lecture from Stacy Kern-Scheerer, the director of the William & Mary Law School’s Immigration Clinic.

“What I’m really hoping to do is help folks understand or have more information about the legal processes that are reflected in the experiences of the main character and the secondary characters in the book,” Kern-Scheerer said. “In my work, I work a lot with people who are seeking asylum or children who have been brought to the United States by their parents.

“So how does that play out in our legal system and in our immigration system? It’s hard to get behind what we see in headlines and to really understand what is our immigration and legal system? And how does this work or in some ways not work in real life?”

In addition to her lecture, Kern-Scheerer will also answer questions that attendees might have about how the system works.

For Kern-Scheerer, who was elected to Williamsburg City Council in November, the hope is that this year’s One Book One Community programming will help members of the community think about the larger issue of immigration on an individual level.

“There are so many aspects to a person’s decision to migrate to another country,” she said. “Then within that experience that they have, what are the challenges that they confront, and the immigration in the United States is one of those challenges. Taking something from the abstract, the idea of migrating to the United States, to (looking at) how does it play out for one person.”

Saudi Arabia-born and Los Angeles-raised Marcom has published seven novels and has received fellowships and awards from the Lannan Foundation, the Whiting Foundation and the US Artists’ Foundation. She teaches creative writing at the University of Virginia, in addition to serving as the creative director of The New American Story Project, which she also founded. The digital oral history project focuses on unaccompanied Central American minors who journeyed to the United States.

Previous books covered by the project include “Palaces for the People” by Eric Klinenberg in 2022; “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You” by Jason Reynolds and Dr. Ibram X. Kendi in 2021; and “There There” by Tommy Orange in 2020.

For more information on the program as well as a full schedule of events, visit wrl.org/onebook.

Sian Wilkerson, sian.wilkerson@pilotonline.com, 757-342-6616