In collaboration with the Contra Costa County Library, Richmond Public Library and the Contra Costa Library Foundation, Los Medanos College is hosting the annual Read Contra Costa event at its very own Pittsburg campus library. Award-winning Author of “James,” Percival Everett will come and speak this upcoming Fall semester Nov. 8, 2025, open to the county.
Read Contra Costa is still in the beginning of development, with those working on it hoping for students and faculty to join in on the process.
“It’s at the initial stages, we’re putting together a planning team at the college. And that will include some librarians from DVC as well,” Librarian Christina Goff shared.
“So we’re gathering interest, we’ve been asking for participation from faculty and staff, and we do want to have students participate on this planning committee as well. So we’re just starting to reach out that way,” Goff continued.
Goff shared that the goal is for literature professors to teach “James” prior to Everett’s arrival, with the hope that LMC will also host a book club for students who aren’t reading it for a class.
Read Contra Costa’s success at LMC hinges on student involvement and Goff emphasized the importance of students not only to the aforementioned planning committee, but also their importance in the engagement of the book and the event as attendees. Currently waiting to hear back from the county, Goff emphasized her excitement for the opportunity to host an acclaimed author at LMC.
“In the fall we hope to have other events – either like a reading group, like a book club or a student panel,” Goff said. “The ideas can come from everywhere, so it would be great to have students involved in that planning.”
Goff also said events like Read Contra Costa being hosted at LMC open up students and the county to more styles and genres of literature than they would’ve considered reading prior.
“Hopefully it’ll spark that interest in reading for leisure,” Goff said. “[I hope the event will be] just a nice reminder of what reading can do, and places it can take us and worlds that it can expose us to. Things that, even I, myself, as a librarian are guilty of forgetting.”
