All upcoming Authors, Books, & Writing programs

Ponder the possibilities that the contemplative season of Advent provides inspired by Henry Ossawa Tanner’s painting The Annunciation and a poem by Wendell Berry. Designed for writers of all levels, and for the curious, the workshop led by Mary Hall Surface invites you to look outwardly at art and to look inwardly through writing. These reflections can become creative fertile ground for memoir, poetry, and more. 

In 1887, a cache of nearly 400 clay tablets inscribed in cuneiform was found in the ruins of the heretic king Akhenaten’s ancient capital. Now known as the Amarna Letters, this correspondence between Egypt’s pharaohs and the great powers of the day offers a glimpse into a vibrant international arena. Author and professor Eric Cline explores the complex web of alliances and rivalries that defined the Late Bronze Age and the ambitions, anxieties, and diplomatic theater of the ancient world.

Even though it was written seven centuries ago, Dante’s Divine Comedy is essential reading today. Literature professor Joseph Luzzi explains why as he leads three all-day seminars focusing on each of the Divine Comedy’s three canticles: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. He highlights the originality and brilliance of Dante’s poetic vision, explaining how this great poem became one of the most influential works in literary history. This session focuses on Dante's Paradiso.

Today, the December holidays are all about joyous magic, warm evenings curled by the fire, and celebrations of the triumph of good and light in the world. Traditionally, however, the winter season also ushers in the terrors of the dark and the cold. One of the most fascinating, long-established cultural traditions that blends these very different impulses is the Christmas ghost story. Folklorists Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman trace the history of the winter ghost story, exploring how it became tied to Christmas and sharing tales.

Discover the power of reflective writing guided by the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s Writing Salon, Mary Hall Surface. Experience new ways to contemplate the gifts of winter inspired by the vibrant Winter Landscape by Wassily Kandinsky, an artist who embraced the transcendent power of color. Designed for writers of all levels, and for the curious, the workshop invites participants to look outwardly at art and to look inwardly through writing.

Discover the power of reflective writing guided by the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, Mary Hall Surface. Inspired by 19th-century French artist James Tissot’s painting Journey of the Magi and poetry across time, explore the notion of epiphany—those transformative moments in life that spark change and understanding. 

Discover how visual art can inspire creative writing and how writing can offer a powerful way to experience art. Join Mary Hall Surface, the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, for a course of three online workshops that explore essential elements of writing and styles through close looking, word-sketching, and imaginative response to prompts. The sessions spotlight a wide range of visual art chosen to inspire writers of all experience levels to deepen their process and practice.

When Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter, Walt Whitman declared it "the volcanic upheaval of the nation”­—the inception of a war that would dramatically alter the shape and character of American culture. Scholar Randall Fuller of the University of Kansas traces the changes in his poetry from idealism to a realism that depicts a more chastened view of America as a place where enormous suffering had occurred.

Discover the power of reflective writing guided by the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, Mary Hall Surface. Inspired by paintings of the visionary Belorussian-born French artist Marc Chagall and by poetry across time, participants slow down, look closely, and reflect to explore love as an animating force in their lives.

Few books are so often quoted as Democracy in America, French writer Alexis de Tocqueville’s seminal assessment of both the American experiment and the implications of burgeoning conditions of social equality for the future of democracy. Georgetown University professor Joseph Hartman examines Tocqueville’s impressions of 19th-century America and considers what he means for us today.