Penn State’s annual Marathon Read will recognize the historical and literary significance of the year 1968. This year’s event will take place from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, September 13 on the Pattee Mall.

The annual event is a festival of food and live readings of passages that correspond with a specific subject, topic, or piece. Past events have featured works such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and Joseph Heller’s “Catch 22” as well as themes including “banned books” and “the political imagination.”

This year’s installment will feature texts written or published in 1968 — a year remembered for global political unrest, the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, the escalation of the Vietnam War, and the launching of Apollo 8, among other major historical events. Audiences will have the opportunity to listen to volunteers as they read texts written by the likes of Joan Didion, Gwendolyn Brooks, Jorge Luis Borges, and many others.

All are encouraged to attend and get their grub on while enjoying the readings. Interested in volunteering to read? Sign up here while slots are still available.