“Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work” by StoryCorps Founder Dave Isay Becomes an Annual Summer Reading Tradition for First-Year Students at UNC Asheville Students

UNC Asheville’s new students will be reading Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work, by StoryCorps founder Dave Isay, as part of the university’s Summer Reading Program. The book shares personal stories recorded as part of the StoryCorps project.

“This year we’re really focusing on the power of storytelling, especially when you listen to hear, rather than listen just to respond,” said UNC Asheville Dean of Students Jackie McHargue. “We want students to know there is space here for everyone’s stories.”

New students will start the semester discussing the book in many of their classes, including liberal arts first-year seminar classes, as well as many introductory classes in academic writing and critical inquiry, and humanities.

Isay, a radio producer, began what grew into StoryCorps in 2003 with a story recording booth in New York City. StoryCorps, with a mission “to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world,” now has story booths in different cities, and mobile story booths that travel the country. In the StoryCorps process, two people who know each other engage in an interview, guided by a facilitator. A weekly edited StoryCorps segment is broadcast every Friday morning as part of National Public Radio’s Morning Edition. Many more StoryCorps interviews are recorded than are used on the radio – the complete interviews are archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work is the most recent of Isay’s five books based on StoryCorps interviews – a series that began in 2007 with Listening is an Act of Love. Isay and StoryCorps have received two Peabody Awards, a TED Prize, and a MacArthur Fellowship, commonly called the “Genius Grant.”

Callings was also the summer reading selection in 2019, and culminated with a visit from Isay in September of that year. Other UNC Asheville summer reading selections in recent years have been The Other Wes Moore, by Wes Moore; Make Your Home Among Strangers, by Jennine Capó Crucet; and How to Fly a Horse, by Kevin Ashton.