A War Correspondent at Gettysburg: A Reporter's Mission, a Father's Search Experience the bloody conflict at Gettysburg through a highly personal lens: the story of 19-year-old Bayard Wilkeson, a missing Union artillery officer, and his father Sam, a reporter for the New York Times who spent three days on the battlefield in search of his son. Saturday, September 14, 2019 - 8:45 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Write a Novel in a Month Each November, thousands of writers around the world sign up for the National Novel Writing Month Challenge: drafting at least 50,000 words of their novel in "30 days and nights of literary abandon." Whether you take up the challenge or just want a solid base to begin or continue a novel at your own pace, this seminar, led by writing coach and author Kathryn Johnson, is for you. Saturday, September 28, 2019 - 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Haunted: Remembering Edgar Allan Poe With his tales of mystery and imagination, Edgar Allan Poe both broke new literary ground and set the pattern for generations of writers to come. On the anniversary of his death, explore the life and art of the original “man in black” with author Daniel Stashower and actor Scott Sedar. Monday, October 7, 2019 - 6:45 p.m.
The Regency World of Jane Austen Learn how Jane Austen’s novels provide a window into life in Regency England, creating a world of country retreats, London townhouses, balls, fashionable finery, and romantic (if sometimes-rocky) courtships. But the realities of war, poverty, and society’s ills rumble through the novels, threatening to disrupt family reputations and elegantly lived lives during that era. Wednesday, October 16, 2019 - 6:45 p.m.
Thinking Like an Historian: A Practical Guide How do professional historians work? In a unique workshop, Christopher Hamner, an associate professor of American history at George Mason University, demystifies this process by guiding you in how to think about and interpret the past. Saturday, October 19, 2019 - 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Imagining the Southwest The American Southwest occupies a central place in the country’s literary imagination. Join Lisbeth Strimple Fuisz, a lecturer in the English department at Georgetown University, in spirited lectures and informal discussions about four compelling novels that offer rich and varied portraits of the region and the people who inhabit it. Monday, October 21, 2019; November 18, 2019; December 16, 2019; and January 27, 2020 - 6:45 p.m.
The Legacy of the Ancient World: The Texts That Tell the Stories Homer, the Bible, and the New Testament, are among the ancient texts that provide us knowledge of the ancient world. Explore the stories behind these and other sources, which still retain their narrative power into the 21st century. Saturday, October 26, 2019 - 9:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.
The Domesday Book: William the Conqueror's Great Survey In 1085, the king of England, William the Conqueror, ordered an inquest be made in every shire, in order to record the totality of resources of the realm. Explore how and why this document, the Domesday Book, came to be and what it reveals about the governance, society, and economy of late 11th-century England with medieval historian Richard Abels. Monday, November 4, 2019 - 6:45 p.m.
