During the 2026-2027 Great World Texts in Wisconsin program, high school teachers and students throughout the state are reading Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West, one of The New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century, finalist for the Booker Prize, and winner of the L.A. Times book prize for fiction.
Participating teachers from across the state of Wisconsin attended a virtual educator colloquium on Monday, August 17, 2026, which featured lectures by campus faculty, guidelines for the conference, and community building exercises between educators.
Educators will bring their students to UW–Madison for a full-day conference on Monday, April 5, 2027, where students will present projects created in response to the novel, engage with other students from across the state, and meet author Mohsin Hamid in person. All participating educators received a stipend to fund their school’s participation in Great World Texts. These funds are most often used to offset the costs of substitute teachers and bus travel to Madison for the student conference.