The UCLA Marathon Reading is a cultural initiative that promotes literacy and community building by presenting a novel or novels aloud in their entirety. The event is free and open to the public beyond campus. Audience members come and go throughout the two-day event, and there are booths with tie-in activities. This year, we have chosen a women in sci-fi theme: Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale and Octavia Butler’s Earthseed series, Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. This theme promotes not only woman authors, but books that will spark conversation around women’s issues, including sexism, sexual violence, and reproductive rights.