The Newberry’s Meet the Author lecture series brings writers to the library for presentations on their recently published work. This work covers a range of topics and genres; the series introduces guests to a variety of professional wordsmiths working within the traditions of memoir, historical fiction, biography, historiography, and more.
Upcoming Events
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Meet the Author
Meet the Author: Essence McDowell
Free and open to the public. Registration required.
Lifting As They Climbed: Mapping a History of Black Women on Chicago’s South Side tells of the lives of Black women who contributed to the development of Chicago from the mid-nineteenth century to today.
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Meet the Author
Meet the Author: Frank Cicero, Jr.
Free and open to the public. Registration required.
How three constitutions built the modern Prairie State
In its early days, Illinois seemed destined to extend the American South. Its population of transplants lived an upland southern culture and in some cases owned slaves. Yet the nineteenth century and three constitutions recast Illinois as a crucible of northern strength and American progress.
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
Meet the Author
Meet the Author: Catherine Kerrison
Free and open to the public. Registration required.
In this talk, Catherine Kerrison, a scholar of early American and women’s history, will explore the ways in which Thomas Jefferson reveals himself, in sometimes unintentional ways, when we look at him as a father. We are often puzzled by disparities between Jefferson’s words—particularly those he uttered in public—and his actions.
Thursday, June 7, 2018
Meet the Author
Meet the Author: Becca Gercken and Julie Pelletier
Free and open to the public. Registration required.
In the decades since the passing of the Pamajewon ruling in Canada and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in the United States, gaming has come to play a crucial role in how Indigenous peoples are represented and read by both Indians and non-Indians alike.
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Meet the Author
Meet the Author: Suzanne Karr Schmidt
Free and open to the public. Registration required.
Interactive and Sculptural Printmaking in the Renaissance tells the story of a hands-on genre of prints: how innovative paper engineering redefined the relationship of early modern viewers to art, humanism, and science.
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Meet the Author
Meet the Author: Susan Sleeper-Smith
Free and open to the public. Registration required.
Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women of the Ohio River Valley, 1690-1792, by Susan Sleeper-Smith, recovers the agrarian village world Indian women created in the lush lands of the Ohio Valley.
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Meet the Author
Meet the Author: Joan Marie Johnson
Free and open to the public. Registration required.
How did a group of affluent white women from the late nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries advance the status of all women through acts of philanthropy?
Thursday, November 29, 2018
Meet the Author
Meet the Author: Robert Bruegmann
Free and open to the public. Registration required.
Art Deco Chicago explores and celebrates Chicago’s pivotal role in the development of modern American design.