First Year Reading Experience (FYRE)

Salem State's First Year Reading Experience (FYRE) Program

The 2025-2026 academic year focuses on student choice. Eight different books, some of which have been FYRE selections in the past, have been chosen for students to select from. Learn more about FYRE: First Year Reading Experience. 

The FYRE program connects new students to the university community through a shared reading experience, welcoming them to a culture that values the thoughtful discussion of ideas.

First-year students will receive the book free of charge and will meet in small groups facilitated by a first-year mentor to discuss the book. There will be a total of four meetings scheduled throughout the fall semester. 

FYE Book Cover Compilation

Past FYRE Selections

  • “Ties that Bind” (2023
  • “College Rules!” (2022)
  • "Tell Me Who You Are: A Road Map for Cultivating Racial Literacy" (2021)
  • “Look Me in the Eye” (2020)
  • “The Book of Unknown Americans” (2019)
  • “The Hate U Give” (2018)
  • “Bad Feminist” (2017)
  • “How Does it Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America” (2016)
  • “Spare Parts” (2015)
  • “I am Malala” (2014)
  • “Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison” (2013)
  • “The Leftovers” (2012)
  • “SuperFreakonomics” (2011)
  • “Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream” (2010)
  • “Listening is an Act of Love” (2009)

To recommend a book to the selection committee, email the title and author to fyre@salemstate.edu.

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