About the Event Keynote speaker Kai Bird is a Pulitzer Prize—winning biographer, journalist, and co-author of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, on which the blockbuster movie Oppenheimer was based. He is the executive director and distinguished lecturer of the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the CUNY Graduate Center in...
During the 18th and 19th centuries, Europe’s promising young musicians flocked to Vienna, producing and performing what would become the masterpieces of the Classical period. Join Chautauqua in Vienna during the 200th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony premiere and explore the life and works of Beethoven in Vienna. On an itinerary curated by...
Gamelan Dharma Swara is proud to present at Chautauqua the Preview World Premiere of a new Dharma Swara commission, co-created by Artist-in-Residence Gusti Komin and longtime dance teacher and choreographer Shoko Yamamuro. The traditional welcome piece to open a performance or event is reimagined. Works of this genre — typically in the female style —...
Join us for an exclusive preview performance by YYDC, offering a sneak peek of SOMEWHERE, an evening-length dance piece that marks the second part of Yue Yin's planned trilogy. The trilogy commenced with NOWHERE, which was previewed at Chautauqua and performed at Chelsea Factory in NYC in 2023. This upcoming work highlights Yue's unique dance...
Join us for an exclusive preview performance by YYDC, offering a glimpse into SOMEWHERE, the next installment of Yue Yin's planned trilogy following NOWHERE. Previously previewed at Chautauqua and performed in 2023 at Chelsea Factory in NYC, SOMEWHERE showcases Yue's unique dance style, emphasizing the trademarked FoCo Technique, which focuses on generating, guiding, and transforming...
NOTE: THIS TRIP IS SOLD OUT -- The 80th-anniversary observance of D-Day is an all too vivid reminder of a time when the fate of Europe hung in the balance and the day was won by months of detailed planning, devotion to duty and bravery in battle by Allied forces in the largest amphibious landing...
Kwame Alexander Writers' Lab & Conference – Opening Keynote Lecture & Reception KWAME ALEXANDER is a poet, educator, producer and #1 New York Times bestselling author of 40 books, including This is the Honey, Why Fathers Cry at Night, An American Story, The Door of No Return, Becoming Muhammad Ali (co-authored with James Patterson), Rebound,...
Kwame Alexander Writers' Lab & Conference Presents a Poetry Lab with Nikki Grimes Join award-winning writer, Nikki Grimes, in this Master Class taking students outside of their free-verse comfort zone by exploring tanka and golden shovel poetry. This Master Class will focus on narrative verse as a storytelling tool, an art applicable to crafting novels...
Kwame Alexander Writers' Lab & Conference Presents the Picture Book Lab with Ann Marie Stephens Plotting Your Picture Book: From the first line to the last word, discover techniques for plotting out your picture book. We will discuss tips on how to leave room for the illustrator and find ways to choose the most irresistible...
Kwame Alexander Writers' Lab & Conference Presents a Memoir Lab with Will Schwalbe New York Times bestselling author and editor Will Schwalbe shares advice on structure, narrative strategies (including how to create suspense), and the often-thorny topic of writing about family and friends. The talk includes stories from his own work and books he's edited--and...
Everything Happens, Live: An Evening with Safiya Sinclair and Kate Bowler A Kwame Alexander Writers' Lab & Conference Featured Speaker Event SAFIYA SINCLAIR was born and raised in Montego Bay, Jamaica. She is the author of the memoir How to Say Babylon, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Kirkus Prize,...
Meet the 2024 Young Artists at Lenna Hall! Join us and hear their voices here first, before the start of the season!
Kwame Alexander Writers' Lab & Conference Presents a Memoir Lab with Kwame Alexander Study the craft of writing memoir (and spilling your tea) with Kwame Alexander. In this interactive session, Kwame will share techniques for getting to the heart of your story, including what makes a life memoir-worthy, where to begin and end, different formats...
Kwame Alexander Writers' Lab & Conference Presents a Poetry Lab with Jillian Hanesworth Join Buffalo Poet Laureate, Jillian Hanesworth, to learn how to write for social change, build a community narrative and challenge listeners to think honestly and critically about the changes we need to create a just society. JILLIAN HANESWORTH is an EMMY nominated...
Kwame Alexander Writers' Lab & Conference Presents a Fiction for Children Lab with Kekla Magoon and Cynthia Leitich Smith Join bestselling authors Kekla Magoon and Cynthia Leitich Smith for a deep dive into character creation and story structure. Stories have the most meaning when readers care about the people at the heart of the narrative....
A Kwame Alexander Writers' Lab & Conference Special Event featuring Cynthia Leitich Smith in conversation with Stephine Hunt Author Study: Indigenous Representation in Children’s Literature CYNTHIA LEITICH SMITH (Muscogee citizen) is an acclaimed NYTimes bestselling author, the 2024 Southern Mississippi Medallion Winner, an American Indian Youth Literature Award winner, and the 2021 NSK Neustadt Laureate....
A Kwame Alexander Writers' Lab & Conference Special Event Pitchapalooza is American Idol for books (only kinder and gentler). Twenty writers will be selected at random to pitch their book. Each writer gets one minute—and only one minute! Dozens of writers have gone from talented amateurs to professionally-published authors as a result of participating in...
Kwame Alexander Writers' Lab & Conference Closing Keynote Lecture with Kate Bowler In the face of AI, we have never felt more necessary and more useless as writers. But our authenticity is the lifeblood of creativity. In this lecture, historian Kate Bowler reflects on the contested modern history of what it means to be authentic....