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Talk About Literature in Kansas (TALK)

Information about the TALK program at Butler Community College.

Previous TALK Programs

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The TALK program is made possible by a grant from Humanities Kansas.

 

Fall 2024: Turning Points: Stores Of Women Choosing Their Own Paths

Spring 2024: Once Upon A Time In The West

Fall 2023: That's Funny: Books That Make Us Laugh

Spring 2023: Entangled World

  • Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. Discussion Leader: Caryn Miriam-Goldberg
  • People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. Discussion Leader: Dr. Gene Chávez
  • Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje. Discussion Leader: Sr. Rosemary Kolich

Fall 2022: On the Lighter Side

Spring 2022: Middle Eastern Culture and Society

Fall 2021: Wit & Grit: Women Characters in Contemporary Fiction

Spring 2021

No program due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Fall 2020

No program due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Spring 2020: On the Lighter Side

Fall 2019: Women Around the World

Spring 2019: A Woman's Place

  • A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris. Discussion leader: Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg
  • The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. Discussion leader: Thomas Prasch
  • Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Discussion leader: Margy Stewart

Fall 2018: Food for Thought

  • Secrets of the Tsil Café by Thomas Fox Averill. Discussion leader: Gene Chávez
  • Epitaph for a Peach by David Mas Masumoto. Discussion leader: Deborah Peterson
  • Miriam's Kitchen by Elizabeth Ehrlich. Discussion leader: Ann Birney

Spring 2018: British Classics

  • The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot. Discussion leader: Kim Stanley.
  • Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Discussion leader: William Clyde Brown.
  • Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy. Discussion leader: Trish Reeves.

Fall 2017: Kansas Literary Heritage

  • Picnic by William Inge. Discussion leader: Dennis Etzel Jr.
  • Sod and Stubble by John Ise. Discussion leader: Anne Hawkins.
  • The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks. Discussion leader: Shawn Leigh Alexander.

Spring 2017: Coming of Age in Rural America

  • Good Land, or My Life as a Farm-Boy by Bruce Bair. Discussion leader: Sr. Rosemary Kolich.
  • Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Discussion leader: Sara Richter.
  • Under the Feet of Jesus by Helena Maria Viramontes. Discussion leader: Dennis Etzel Jr.

Fall 2016: Growing Up American

  • Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. Discussion leader: Linda Lewis.
  • Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table by Ruth Reichl. Discussion leader: Sara Richter.
  • Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead. Discussion leader: Dennis Etzel Jr.

Spring 2016: The Civil War

  • March by Geraldine Brooks. Discussion leader: Diane Quantic.
  • The March by E. L. Doctorow. Discussion leader: Deborah Peterson.
  • A Diary from Dixie by Mary Boykin Chesnut. Discussion leader: Tom Prasch.

Fall 2015: Encountering Asia

  • The Chinese Gold Murders by Robert Van Gulik. Discussion leader: Anne Hawkins.
  • Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. Discussion leader: Brenda Craven.
  • Waiting by Ha Jin. Discussion leader: Kim Stanley.

Spring 2015: Native American Writers

  • Tracks by Louise Erdrich. Discussion leader: Diane Quantic.
  • The Grass Dancer by Susan Power. Discussion leader: Anne Hawkins.
  • Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie. Discussion leader: Kevin Rabas.

Fall 2014: Between Fences

  • Fences by August Wilson. Discussion leader: Tom Prasch.
  • The Tortilla Curtain by T. C. Boyle. Discussion leader: Susan Anne Carlson.
  • The Wire Cutters by Mollie E. Moore Davis. Discussion leader: Sara Jane Richter.

Earlier Programs (hosted by Butler Life Enrichment)

  • Spring 2014 - The 1930s
  • Fall 2013 - Hispanic Heritage: Mothers, Sisters, and Daughters
  • Spring 2013 - Kansas at 150
  • Fall 2012 - Community: The Way We Live
  • Spring 2012 - The Great Plains Spirit
  • Fall 2011 - Faith in Fiction: World Faiths
  • Spring 2011- Contemporary Immigration
  • Fall 2010 - Before the Civil War
  • Spring 2010 - World War II Generation
  • Fall 2009 - Today's Mysteries
  • Spring 2009 - Award Winners
  • Fall 2008 - Westering
  • Spring 2008 - The Best of the West
  • Fall 2007 - Literature with Kansas Connections
  • Spring 2007 - Living with the Land
  • Fall 2006 - Childhood Classics
  • Spring 2006 - Behold Our New Century: 20th Century Visions
  • Fall 2005 - The Immigrant Experience
  • Spring 2005 - American Classics
  • Fall 2004 - That's Funny: Books That Make Us Laugh
  • Spring 2004 - Women Around the World
  • Fall 2003 - Kansas Literary Heritage
  • Spring 2003 - British Classics
  • Fall 2002 - Coming of Age in Rural America
  • Spring 2002 - Today's Mysteries
  • Fall 2001 - Faith in Fiction: Christianity
  • Spring 2001 - Generations
  • Fall 2000 - The Great Plains Spirit
  • Spring 2000 - Urban Indians: Native American Writers of the 1990s
  • Fall 1999 - Community: The Way We Live
  • Spring 1999 - Best of the West
  • Fall 1998 - Looking for Nature
  • Spring 1998 - Golden Age Mysteries
  • Fall 1997 - American Writers of the Gilded Age
  • Spring 1997 - Beyond Kansas History
  • Fall 1996 - What America Reads: Mythmaking in Popular Fiction
  • Spring 1996 - Generations
  • Fall 1995 - Native American Writers of the Plains
  • Spring 1995 - Not for Children Only
  • Fall 1994 - American Classics
  • Spring 1994 - Kansas Literary Heritage
  • Fall 1993 - A Woman's Place
  • Spring 1993 - Small Towns