It’s like a book club, but just a whole lot bigger.The University of the Fraser Valley is inviting local residents to participate in a community-wide book reading of Dahanu Road that will culminate with a visit from the author Anosh Irani at the end of March.One Book, One UFV is a project organized by the university’s Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies and UFV’s English department.The idea, explains UFV’s Sharanjit Sandhra, is to encourage as many people as possible to read the book between now and March 29 — when the Ehsaas Readers’ and Writers’ Festival takes place.“We would like to invite everybody to read Anosh Irani’s evocative book Dahanu Road and join us in this thought-provoking winter journey,” said Sandhra.“Then, when Irani visits UFV in March we would encourage people to come and engage in a reading and discussion with him.”Dahanu Road is the story of Zairos — the son of a wealthy landowner and his own voyage of discovery. The story combines the tales of family generations and weaves love, betrayal, suicide, hatred, and reckoning in its pages.Dahanu is a town just outside of Bombay and Zairos learns from his grandfather about his family history and the tragic story of bloodshed on the land that Zairos will eventually inherit.One Book, One UFV is all about sharing the story of the novel, explains Sandhra. She loves the idea of people following the story of Zairos and discussing the adventure as the pages are turned.On March 29, Irani will visit UFV and read from his book as part of the Ehsaas Readers’ and Writers’ festival. Other writers taking part in the festival are Tariq Malik and Gurjinder Basran.“Book lovers from all UFV campuses and the general community are encouraged to participate by reading the book and then joining us in March for the reading,” Sandhra added. The book can be purchased at UFV’s bookstore. The Ehsaas Readers’ and Writers’ Festival is presented by the Centre for Indo Canadian Studies in collaboration with the UFV’s English department.Irani will read from Dahanu Road at a special presentation on Tuesday, March 29 at 7 p.m. in the lecture theatre (room B101) in the Abbotsford campus.The reading will be followed by book signings and the opportunity to meet the participating authors.The Readers’ and Writers’ Festival is part of the year-long celebrations honouring the Centennial year of the building of the National Historic Site Gur Sikh Temple in Abbotsford that was established in 1911.For more information, please contact Sharanjit at sharanjit.sandhra@ufv.ca or call 604-851-6325.

Abbotsford News