The Connecticut Forum Presents Favorite Authors Forum by thectforum

3 | 25 | 2021

FAVORITE

AUTHORS Presented via Livestream

Hosted by Travelers

Presented by Trinity College

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2 FAVORITE AUTHORS FORUM

WELCOME TO THE CONNECTICUT FORUM! FAVORITE

AUTHORS Dear Friends, Welcome to our Favorite Authors Forum! We have a long history of bringing world-renowned authors to The CT Forum stage -- Toni Morrison, Frank McCourt, Salman Rushdie, Elie Wiesel, Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amy Tan -- to name just a few. Tonight is no exception. We have the privelege of hearing from three award-winning authors -- Lauren Groff, Colson Whitehead, and Jacqueline Woodson. Their extraordinary body of work transports us to new worlds and opens our eyes to the joy, the pain, and the lives of characters we love, hate, admire, and cherish. Special thanks to Travelers, tonight’s Host, and Trinity College, tonight’s Presenting Sponsor. To all our sponsors, donors, subscribers, ticket buyers, volunteers, and everyone with us tonight, thank you for your continued support. Your generous contributions make programs like this possible.

7:30 PM Welcome & Introductions Doris Sugarman

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

THE CONNECTICUT FORUM

Messages from: Tonight’s Host

TRAVELERS

Tonight’s Presenting Sponsor TRINITY COLLEGE

7:35 PM Panel Discussion

Lauren Groff Colson Whitehead Jacqueline Woodson Alison Stewart, Moderator

8:15 PM Panelist Q & A 9:00 PM End of Show

We’re so glad you’re here. Please enjoy Favorite Authors. Sincerely,

Doris Sugarman Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer THE CONNECTICUT FORUM

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THROUGH THE YEARS: AUTHORS AT THE CONNECTICUT FORUM Toni Morrison, at A Conversation Between Toni Morrison and FranK McCourt, May, 2001. Salman Rushdie, at Looking at Life, November, 2003.

Frank McCourt, at A Conversation Between Toni Morrison and FranK McCourt, May, 2001.

Elie Wiesel, at A Nobel Evening, March, 2003.

6 FAVORITE AUTHORS FORUM

Kurt Vonnegut, at An Evening with Our Favorite Writers, February, 2006. Neil Gaiman, at An Evening with Neil Gaiman, July, 2017.

Amy Tan, at Talking Authors, May, 2016.

Elizabeth Gilbert, at Creative Artists, May, 2016.

Azar Nafisi and Jonathan Franzen, at Forum Book Club, May, 2011.

#AUTHORSFORUM 7

The Connecticut Forum’s TICKET OUTREACH PROGRAM Bringing our community closer SINCE 2006, more than 10,000 high school students and community organization members from Hartford and beyond have attended Connecticut Forums free-of-charge, thanks to generous support from Travelers. L

To recommend an organization or school, contact info@ctforum.org or call 860.509.0909

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THANK YOU TRAVELERS!

The Travelers Arts Impact Grant program is made possible through the Greater Hartford Arts Council’s United Arts Campaign with major support from The Travelers Foundation.

History. In the remaking. Coming April 5th. Learn more at ctforum.org/fresh-take

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Open exchange At Raytheon Technologies, we recognize that innovation results from open-minded thinking. That’s why we are proud to support The Connecticut Forum in its mission to encourage the free and active exchange of ideas. Learn what we’re thinking at RTX.com.

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THE CONNECTICUT FORUM | PANELIST

LAUREN GROFF National Book Award Finalist and Author of Fates and Furies and Florida

Lauren Groff is the New York Times bestselling author of three novels, The Monsters of Templeton, Arcadia, and Fates and Furies, as well as the celebrated short-story collections Delicate Edible Birds and Florida, a 2018 National Book Award finalist. She graduated from Amherst College and has an MFA in fiction from the University of Wisconsin Madison. In her lectures, Groff captivates audiences with thoughtful reflections on the writing craft and discussion of the influences and inspiration behind her bestselling works. Fates and Furies was a New York Times bestseller, a finalist for the National Book Award, and Amazon’s #1 Best Book of the Year in 2015. It is an exhilarating novel about marriage, creativity, art, and perception, and has garnered tremendous critical acclaim. Her followup book, Florida, was similarly acclaimed and was

nominated for the 2018 National Book Award and won the prestigious annual Story Prize. She also edited a collection of stories by author Nancy Hale entitled Where the Light Falls, bringing a forgotten master of the short story back into the literary conversation. Groff’s work has appeared in a number of magazines, including The New Yorker, Harper’s, and The Atlantic, and in several of the annual The Best American Short Stories anthologies. Groff’s fiction has won the Paul Bowles Prize for Fiction, the Medici Book Club Prize, the PEN/O. Henry Award, and the Pushcart Prize, and has been shortlisted for the Orange Prize for New Writers, and a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize. She lives in Gainsville, Florida with her husband and two sons.

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THE CONNECTICUT FORUM | PANELIST

COLSON WHITEHEAD Two-Time Pulitzer Prize Winner, Author of

The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys Colson Whitehead has established himself as one of the most versatile and innovative writers in contemporary literature. His novel, The Underground Railroad, is the winner of the 2016 National Book Award, the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and the Carnegie Medal for Fiction. One of the most critically acclaimed novels in recent years, the book was a #1 New York Times bestseller, an Oprah’s Book Club 2016 selection, and Amazon’s #1 book of 2016, in addition to being included on numerous 2016 best books lists, including The New York Times‘ and The Washington Post’s top ten books of the year. Describing the book, Oprah Winfrey writes, “From the first page of Colson Whitehead’s extraordinary novel The Underground Railroad I knew I was reading something ground-shifting.” Whitehead’s 2019 book, The Nickel Boys, is an

exploration of life under Jim Crow told from the perspective of two boys in one of the country’s most notorious juvenile correction institutions. The book was an instant New York Times bestseller and won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in fiction. Whitehead is also the New York Times bestselling author of several other books including The Intuitionist, John Henry Days, The Colossus of New York, Sag Harbor, and Zone One. In April 2017 Whitehead was named one of Time Magazine‘s “100 Most Influential People.” He has received a MacArthur Fellowship, A Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Writers Award, the Dos Passos Prize, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for John Henry Days. He currently resides in New York City.

Trinity College is honored to be the presenting sponsor of Favorite Authors at The Connecticut Forum. www.trincoll.edu #AUTHORSFORUM 13

Proud Sponsors of Tomorrow At Lincoln Financial Group, we believe in helping people face their futures with confidence. It began over a century ago when we adopted Lincoln’s name. His legacy of honesty, integrity, and respect has helped shape our business as well as how we dedicate our resources to help the community around us. It’s also why we established the Lincoln Financial Foundation: To carry on our rich tradition of giving by supporting the hopes and dreams of Hartford with the tools it needs to lay the foundation for a better tomorrow.

Lincoln Financial is a proud sponsor of the Connecticut Forum.

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THE CONNECTICUT FORUM | PANELIST

JACQUELINE WOODSON National Book Award Winner, Author of Brown Girl Dreaming and Red at the Bone Jacqueline Woodson is the critically-acclaimed author of dozens of award-winning books for young adults, middle graders, and children. She has also written books for adults including Red at the Bone, a New York Times bestseller, and Another Brooklyn, a 2016 National Book Award finailst. Among her many accolades, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a four-time National Book Award finalist, and a three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. Woodson received the 2014 National Book Award for her memoir, Brown Girl Dreaming, which was also a recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor, the NAACP Image Award, and a Sibert Honor. Her books include Coretta Scott King Award-winner Before the Ever After; New York Times bestsellers The Day You Begin and Harbor Me; The Other Side; Each Kindness;

a Caldecott Honor book Coming On Home Soon; Newbery Honor winners Feathers, Show Way, and After Tupac and D Foster; and Miracle’s Boys, which received the LA Times Book Prize and the Coretta Scott King Award. Woodson is the recipient of a 2020 MacArthur Fellowship, the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the 2018 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, and the 2018 Children’s Literature Legacy Award. She was the 2018 Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Library of Congress, and in 2015, she was named the Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Woodson grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from college with a B.A. in English. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.

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WHEN MINDS ARE OPEN, DOORS OPEN FOR EVERYONE.

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The Hartford® is The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries. 20-CR-543504 December 2020 The Hartford 16 FAVORITE AUTHORS FORUM

THE CONNECTICUT FORUM | MODERATOR

ALISON STEWART Journalist and Host of WNYC’s All of It Alison Stewart is a seasoned journalist who has covered everything from presidential conventions and the Olympics to major news events. She is the author of First Class: The Legacy of Dunbar, America’s First Black Public High School, which was named one of the best books of 2013 by Essence and Mother Jones magazines. She is also the host of the WNYC radio show, All of It. Stewart first gained widespread visibility as a producer/ reporter for MTV News’ breakthrough political coverage Choose or Lose, for which she won a Peabody Award. She later served as anchor for ABC World News Now, receiving an Emmy as part of ABC News’ coverage of 9/11, and has since interviewed news-makers including President Bill Clinton, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, singer/activist Bono, author Carl Hiassen, movie titan Steven Spielberg, and U.S.

Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher. Stewart is a popular speaker at colleges across the country and has moderated events for NYC’s 92nd Street Y, The World Science Festival, The Smithsonian Institution, and the New School. This is Stewart’s sixth time in the CT Forum moderator chair. She previously moderated A Conversation with Spike Lee in 2019, Women Rising in 2018, Creative Artists in 2016, Explorers & Adventurers in 2015, and Talkin’ ‘bout My Generation in 2005. A graduate of Brown University, Stewart lives in New York City and Woodstock, NY with her husband and son.

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Please join us in welcoming this evening’s pre-Forum musical guests: CBG and the Hartford Sound.

CBG and the Hartford Sound is a collective started by pianist Damian Curtis, percussionist Nelson Bello, and trombonist Emmett Goods. The three have been friends and musical associates for over 20 years but in 2014 came together for a one night gig and decided to keep working. In the last six years, the band has played all across New England and in Pittsburgh, PA. The group’s unique mix of both jazz and Latin styles gives them a sound that can only be described as “uniquely Hartford.” The band is currently working on their first recording due for release in 2021. CBG and the Hartford Sound L 18 FAVORITE AUTHORS FORUM

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THE CONNECTICUT BOARD OF DIRECTORS Laura Amenta Community Volunteer Paula Angelo VP of Internal & CEO Communications, The Hartford Jonathan Brown CT YOUTH Forum Student, CT IB Academy Steven Blau CHAIR

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The Connecticut Forum Richard Sugarman FOUNDING PRESIDENT

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