2023-2024 Named Lectures
Lerner Lecture with Kate Quinn
Unsung Heroines: Women’s Roles in History’s Hinge Moments
Wednesday, January 31st at 5:30pm
Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum
The bravery, intelligence, and ingenuity of women has long been overlooked in history’s spotlight moments—but women of the past are stepping out of the shadows. Today’s scholars and authors are delving deep into the past to bring these women out of obscurity and into the spotlight they have long deserved. Kate Quinn, a bestselling author of historical fiction, will discuss the process of researching, writing, and utilizing the historical record in service of telling women’s stories, focusing on the brave real-life heroines whose incredible deeds during linchpin historical epochs such as World War I and World War II inspired her novels The Alice Network, The Rose Code, and her most recent novel The Diamond Eye.
Kate Quinn is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. A native of southern California, she attended Boston University where she earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Classical Voice. She has written four novels in the Empress of Rome Saga, and two books in the Italian Renaissance, before turning to the 20th century with The Alice Network, The Huntress, The Rose Code, and The Diamond Eye. All have been translated into multiple languages. Kate and her husband now live in San Diego with three rescue dogs.
Quinn will deliver the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies' 2023-24 Lerner Lecture on Hinge Moments in History.
Quinones Lecture with JP Brammer
Dear Me: An Advice Columnist's Advice for Navigating Culture, Class, and Sexuality
Thursday, February 15th at 5:30PM
Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum
John Paul Brammer, author of the popular advice column and memoir ¡Hola Papi!, will talk about the road from rural Oklahoma to celebrated gay New York writer, and how the stories we tell shape our identities in a confusing, chaotic world.
John Paul “JP” Brammer is an author and illustrator whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, Food & Wine, Catapult, Business Insider, and more. He has been chosen as an OUT 100 honoree and recognized by TIME Magazine for running the popular advice column “¡Hola Papi!”, which first started on Substack with thousands of dedicated subscribers and is now syndicated on The Cut.
Brammer’s first book, also titled ¡Hola Papi!, is a hilarious, heartwarming memoir-in-essays chronicling his journey growing up as a queer, mixed-race kid in America’s heartland to becoming the “Chicano Carrie Bradshaw” of his generation. ¡Hola Papi! is for anyone—gay, straight, and everything in between—who has ever taken stock of their unique place in the world, as Brammer offers considered advice and intelligent discourse. Brammer also works with Netflix on The Most, a small team that creates content, consults on projects, and builds community based on the company’s LGBTQ material.
Brammer will deliver the 2023-24 Gould Center for Humanistic Studies' Ricardo J. Quinones Lecture.
Golo Mann Lecture with Fabrice Guerrier
Worldbuilding as Future: Creolizing The Ruins of Modernity
Wednesday, April 3rd at 5:30PM
Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum
We’ll embark on an exploratory and personal journey through the conceptual landscapes shaped by the aftermath of modernity. We will delve into the creative process of worldbuilding and science fiction as visionary and personal tools for imagining and constructing future realities. By embracing the notion of 'creolization,' we will investigate how the blending of diverse cultural, intellectual, and social elements can forge new, resilient pathways for humanity. How do we imagine the future in the context of addressing, navigating, and transforming environmental, social, and cultural challenges, seeking innovative ways to create inclusive and sustainable futures?