ASU Book Group: ‘Roadside’ by Dylan Park-Pettiford

Part of ASU’s annual Salute to Service events, the ASU Book Group's November 2025 reading selection is “Roadside: My Journey to Iraq and the Long Road Home” by screenwriter and director Dylan Park-Pettiford, an ASU graduate (BA film and media studies ’11).

The book group is open to all in the ASU community and meets monthly this fall from noon to 1 p.m.

Haven't read the book? Come anyway! Authors are always present.

*Note new in-person location for 2025.

Synopsis

Called “gripping” and “resonant in discussing both war and loss” (Foreword Reviews), “Roadside” is a military memoir by a biracial child of refugees and survivors. It’s about life and death, about family lost and gained, and about America, as a dream and a reality. It’s about the roads one takes to leave home and find it again.

About the book group

The ASU Book Group meetings and selections for fall 2025 are:

Sep. 25 - “Every Sound Is Not a Wolf” by Alberto Ríos

Oct. 23 - “Wild for Austen” by Devoney Looser

Nov. 13 - “Roadside” by Dylan Park-Pettiford

Dec. - no meeting

The ASU Book Group is sponsored as a community outreach initiative hosted in partnership between the Department of English and ASU Library.