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In collaboration with the Center for Equity and Inclusion, the UW Tacoma Library is thrilled to announce that we will be reading When We Were Magic, by Sarah Gailey, for Winter Quarter 2024! This is the 20th book for our award-winning social justice book club, Real Lit[erature]. We can’t wait to start this work of speculative fiction that explores female friendship amidst a backdrop brimming with queer romance, fantasy, humor and more!

“Keeping your magic a secret is hard. Being in love with your best friend is harder.

Alexis has always been able to rely on two things: her best friends, and the magic powers they all share. Their secret is what brought them together, and their love for each other is unshakeable—even when that love is complicated. Complicated by problems like jealousy, or insecurity, or lust. Or love.

That unshakeable, complicated love is one of the only things that doesn’t change on prom night.

When accidental magic goes sideways and a boy winds up dead, Alexis and her friends come together to try to right a terrible wrong. Their first attempt fails—and their second attempt fails even harder. Left with the remains of their failed spells and more consequences than anyone could have predicted, each of them must find a way to live with their part of the story.” (Description from author’s website).

What is Real Lit?

Real Lit[erature] reads books about social justice and is open to anyone affiliated with UW: students, faculty, and staff!

Build community, reduce isolation and enhance campus education by joining a peer-based book club! The goals of Real Lit have always been to create greater awareness and discussion of the experiences that are being had by our students, staff, and community members. Interacting with narratives that reflect different experiences has provided opportunities for dialogue with peers about both shared and disparate experiences.

• We strive to be an actively anti-racist space and spend the first session crafting and reviewing community agreements.
• Meetings will be completely remote, via Zoom: Thursdays 12:30-1:20 beginning 1/11.
• Zoom link will be forthcoming after sign ups.
• Please note: Real Lit is completely optional and you will not be graded. Students receive copies of books on a first-come, first-serve basis.

To learn more, read about Real Lit[erature] on page two of the Winter 2024 WLA ALD/ACRL-WA Newsletter!

Questions? Feel free to reach out to: alainac@uw.edu, jmjk@uw.edu, cej6692@uw.edu, ncol3j@uw.edu, msphares@uw.edu or lgonza3@uw.edu.