By Julia Hess '15
Siena College welcomed bestselling author Mohsin Hamid, who spoke to over 800 students, faculty and members of the public, on Thursday, September 10.
Hamid is well known to current Siena students through the First Year Seminar (FYS), a two-semester program that prepares Siena freshmen for the intellectual life of college. His books, "How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia" and "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" have been staples of the program's reading list for the past few years.
First Year Seminar Director Meg Woolbright, Ph.D. opened up the discussion by explaining to the Class of 2019 why the program decided that "How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia" was the best book to welcome them to Siena.
"One of the passages the First Year Seminar teachers discussed when choosing this book for you was, 'You often do not know, when you venture forth into the streets on your errands, who among them stands for what. Nor is it clear to you that they themselves, beneath the poses they strike, really know what they stand for either, any more than you did at their age.' This book, First Year Seminar, Siena, challenge you, in the next four years to figure this out. To figure out exactly what you stand for," said Woolbright.
While giving the audience a narrative of his background, Hamid also explained how his writing mimicked his life and evolved over time. The idea behind his self-help novel "How to Get Rich in Rising Asia" stemmed from his experiences as a new father and developing anxieties about the aging and mortality of his loved ones. "Part of the reason I wanted to [write a self-help book] was because I realized I needed help. I had to write a novel that helped me," he said.
Hamid has traveled from his home in Pakistan to speak at many colleges around the globe. He feels that there is a special relationship between an author and young readers that is a gift.
"In some ways, there is nothing that I really enjoy more once I'm done writing a book, than speaking about it with young people who have read it," he said. "As a college student you may think 'oh cool that I get to meet someone who has written a book that I've read'. But, as a writed it's the reverse. College students are sort of like the perfect reader because these are people who actually care and are passionate and are hopeful and take things personally."
This event was co-sponsored by the J. Spencer and Patricia Standish Honors Program, Reinhold Neibuhr Institute for Religion and Culture, the Office of Student Activities and Leadership Development, the Damietta Cross-Cultural Center, the Muslim Student Association and the Asian Student Association.
