Statewide Vermont – NPR host John Hockenberry, Pulitzer Prize winners Joseph Ellis and Hedrick Smith, and Grammy-nominated musician and historian Stephen Wade are among the presenters in the fourteenth season of the Vermont Humanities Council’s First Wednesdays lecture series beginning October 7 at nine sites statewide. The series runs October through May at 7:00 pm on the first Wednesday of each month (unless otherwise noted). Talks take place in Brattleboro, Essex Junction, Manchester, Middlebury, Montpelier, Newport, Norwich, Rutland, and St. Johnsbury.
A free lecture series that has set attendance records each of its last two seasons, First Wednesdays began in 2002 at Kellogg-Hubbard Library in Montpelier. It has since grown to statewide status, offering regular free lifelong learning opportunities to thousands of people in Vermont communities. Talks often feature names recognized nationally—even internationally—in their fields, as well as expert scholars from around Vermont and New England.
First Wednesdays offers not only compelling speakers and topics, but also the opportunity for the audience to engage the speaker during the question-and-answer period following each talk. This format is fundamental to the series and one of the reasons for its success.
“Many times the question-and-answer sessions are the liveliest part of these programs,” said VHC’s First Wednesdays director Ali White. “It’s always inspiring to know Vermonters leave the comfort of their living rooms, sometimes on frigid winter nights, to participate in these exchanges.”
Grammy-nominated musician and historian Stephen Wade helps kick off First Wednesdays with his performance lecture, “The Beautiful Music All Around Us,” on October 7 at First Congregational Church in Manchester and October 8 (special date) at Montpelier’s Unitarian Church. On November 4, First Wednesdays welcomes NPR’s The Takeaway host John Hockenberry to the Saint Michael’s College McCarthy Arts Center, where he will discuss the climate change debate in “Climate of Doubt.”
The 2015-2016 First Wednesdays season features forty-five new talks. (Popular recurring talks take place in communities yet to host them.) Other new talks this season include “The History of Health Care in the US” with Dartmouth professor Allen Koop (Brattleboro, February 3); “Shakespeare in America” with Columbia University professor James Shapiro (Middlebury, February 3); “Myths of World War II” with UVM professor emeritus Mark A. Stoler (Newport, April 6); “Being Nixon: A Man Divided” with bestselling biographer Evan Thomas (November 4, Norwich); “The Impressionists: Painters of Modern Life” with Middlebury professor Kirsten Hoving (Rutland, December 2); and “The Endurance: Shackleton’s legendary Antarctic Expedition” with author Caroline Alexander (March 9, St. Johnsbury).
Several talks this season focus on the history of Latino Americans, including “The Legacy of Cesar Chavez” with author Ilan Stavans (Brattleboro, October 7) and “Today’s Latino Writers: Making Great American Literature” with Middlebury professor Gloria Estela Gonzalez Zenteno (Montpelier, January 6). These talks are supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Library Association (ALA) as part of an NEH initiative, The Common Good: The Humanities in the Public Square.
First Wednesdays also recognizes in 2016 the hundredth anniversary of the establishment of the Pulitzer Prize with six talks, some by Pulitzer winners, such as New York Times chief Washington correspondent David Sanger with “The Future of Investigative Reporting” (Manchester, March 2) and Frontline writer Hedrick Smith with “Who Stole the American Dream?” (April 6, Montpelier). And Boston College professor Heather Cox Richardson explores the life of the Prize’s namesake with “Joseph Pulitzer and the American Republic” (May 4, Rutland).
“We’re pleased to participate this year in the Latino American initiative and in the Pulitzer centennial,” said White.
A brochure (PDF) for the entire series is here:
http://www.vermonthumanities.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/First-Wed-2015-16.pdf
First Wednesdays takes place in Brattleboro (Brooks Memorial Library); Essex Junction (Brownell Library); Manchester (First Congregational Church, hosted by Manchester Community Library); Middlebury (Ilsley Public Library); Montpelier (Kellogg-Hubbard Library); Newport (Goodrich Memorial Library); Norwich (Norwich Congregational Church, hosted by Norwich Public Library and the Norwich Historical Society); Rutland (Rutland Free Library); and St. Johnsbury (St. Johnsbury Athenaeum). All talks take place at 7:00 p.m. and at the above sites unless otherwise noted.
Brattleboro First Wednesdays:
http://www.vermonthumanities.org/first-wednesdays-brattleboro/
Essex Junction First Wednesdays:
http://www.vermonthumanities.org/first-wednesdays-essex-junction/
Manchester First Wednesdays:
http://www.vermonthumanities.org/first-wednesdays-manchester/
Middlebury First Wednesdays:
http://www.vermonthumanities.org/first-wednesdays-middlebury/
Montpelier First Wednesdays:
http://www.vermonthumanities.org/first-wednesdays-montpelier/
Newport First Wednesdays
http://www.vermonthumanities.org/first-wednesdays-newport/
Norwich First Wednesdays
http://www.vermonthumanities.org/first-wednesdays-norwich/
Rutland First Wednesdays
http://www.vermonthumanities.org/first-wednesdays-rutland/
St. Johnsbury First Wednesdays
http://www.vermonthumanities.org/first-wednesdays-st-johnsbury/
VHC thanks the National Life Group Foundation and the Vermont Department of Libraries, the statewide supporters of First Wednesdays as well as the libraries and local businesses who support the program. (Complete lists of site sponsors are available at the links above.)
To learn more about First Wednesdays, visit www.vermonthumanities.org or call 802.262.2626.
The Vermont Humanities Council is a private nonprofit working to bring the power and the pleasure of the humanities to all Vermonters—of every background and in every community. The Council strives to make Vermont a state in which every individual reads, participates in public affairs, and continues to learn throughout life. Because Ideas Matter.
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CONTACT: Jeff Euber, Communications Assistant, 802.262.1354
