Public Relations & Marketing

HCC announces Big Read book initiative

Hagerstown Community College has announced its second annual Big Read initiative, open to all students, faculty, staff, and the community. The 2023 Big Read book is Walking to Listen: 4,000 Miles Across America, One Story at a Time, by Andrew Forsthoefel.

Forsthoefel’s book is a memoir, written following his cross-country trek, and told through the stories of the people of all ages, races, and inclinations he met along the highways of America.

HCC will host a Big Read event with the author, on Thursday, March 23 at 10 a.m., in the Kepler Theater. During the event, guests will get a closer look into Forsthoefel’s quest for guidance and the stories of others living along the roads of America. A book signing will be held following his presentation.

At the age of 23, Forsthoefel walked out the back door of his home in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, with a backpack, an audio recorder, his copies of Whitman and Rilke, and a sign that read walking to listen. He had just graduated from Middlebury College and was ready to begin his adult life, but he didn’t know how. So he decided he’d walk. And listen. It would be a cross-country quest for guidance, and everyone he met would be his guide.

Paper copies of the book are available locally through HCC’s Campus Store and the Brish Library, as well as the Washington County Free Library, which will host workshops leading up to the event. For more information on the book initiative, visit www.hagerstowncc.edu/bigread. For more information on the author, visit www.andrewforsthoefel.com.

(March 3, 2023)