Live Online: Author Talks

Tuesday, October 25
4:00 pm
Kate Quinn
The Diamond Eye

Join us for a captivating conversation with historical fiction writer Kate Quinn as she discusses her newest release, The Diamond Eye, and her other works. Quinn is the author of several New York Times bestsellers, including The Alice Network, The Huntress, and The Rose Code.

Quinn’s latest book, The Diamond Eye, offers an unforgettable World War II tale of a quiet bookworm who becomes history’s deadliest female sniper. Based on a true story. 

In 1937 in the snowbound city of Kiev (now known as Kyiv), wry and bookish history student Mila Pavlichenko organizes her life around her library job and her young son – but Hitler’s invasion of Ukraine and Russia sends her on a different path. Given a rifle and sent to join the fight, Mila must forge herself from studious young woman to deadly sniper – a lethal hunter of Nazis known as Lady Death. When news of her three hundredth kill makes her a national heroine, Mila finds herself torn from the bloody battlefields of the eastern front and sent to America on a goodwill tour.

Still reeling from war wounds and devastated by loss, Mila finds herself isolated and lonely in the glittering world of Washington, DC – until an unexpected friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and an even more unexpected connection with a silent fellow sniper offer the possibility of happiness. But when an old enemy from Mila’s past joins forces with a deadly new foe lurking in the shadows, Lady Death finds herself battling her own demons, and enemy bullets, in the deadliest duel of her life.

Based on a true story, The Diamond Eye is a haunting novel of heroism born of desperation, of a woman and mother who became a soldier and who found her place in the world that changed the course of history forever.

Kate Quinn is a New York Times bestselling author of historical fiction.  She is a native of Southern California, and she attended Boston University, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in classical voice. A lifelong history buff, she has written four novels in the Empress of Rome Saga and two books set in the Italian Renaissance before turning to the 20th century with The Alice Network, The Huntress, and The Rose Code. She and her husband now live in Seattle with their rescue dogs.

Wednesday, November 2
1:00 pm
Lisa Napoli
The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR

You’re invited to an enlightening hour with highly acclaimed writer, journalist, broadcaster, and speaker Lisa Napoli as she discusses her group biography of the four women whose voices defined NPR, Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR. 

In the years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, women in the workplace still found themselves relegated to secretarial positions or locked out of jobs entirely. This was especially true in the news business, a backwater of male chauvinism where a woman might be lucky to get a foothold on the “women’s pages.” But when a pioneering nonprofit called National Public Radio came along in the 1970s, and the door to serious journalism opened a crack, four remarkable women came along and blew it off the hinges.

Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie is journalist Lisa Napoli’s captivating account of these four women, their deep and enduring friendships, and the trail they blazed to becoming icons. They had radically different stories. Cokie Roberts was born into a political dynasty, roamed the halls of Congress as a child, and felt a tug toward public service. Susan Stamberg, who had lived in India with her husband who worked for the State Department, was the first woman to anchor a nightly news program and pressed for accommodations to balance work and home life. Linda Wertheimer, the daughter of shopkeepers in New Mexico, fought her way to a scholarship and a spot on-air. And Nina Totenberg, the network’s legal affairs correspondent, invented a new way to cover the Supreme Court. Based on extensive interviews and calling on the author’s deep connections in news and public radio, Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie is as beguiling and sharp as their formidable subjects.

Lisa Napoli, a native of Brooklyn and a graduate of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. Before escaping daily journalism, Lisa worked at a variety of news outlets including the New York Times CyberTimes, MSNBC, and the public radio show Marketplace, covering everything from presidential campaigns, artists in Los Angeles, the Waco hostage standoff, an outdoor hacker convention, and the then-emerging culture of the Internet and digital technology. Along with Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie, Lisa has also written Radio Shangri-La, Ray & Joan, and Up All Night. 

Thursday, November 10
11:00 am
Bonnie Garmus
Lessons in Chemistry

Join us for a dazzlingly entertaining virtual chat with author Bonnie Garmus as she discusses her debut New York Times bestselling novel Lessons in Chemistry. 

Lessons in Chemistry is set in 1960s California and features the singular voice of Chemist Elizabeth Zott, a scientist whose career takes an unexpected detour. Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with–of all things–her mind. True chemistry results.

But like science, life is unpredictable. This is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.

Bonnie Garmus is a copywriter and creative director who has worked widely in the fields of technology, medicine, and education. She’s an open-water swimmer, a rower, and a mother to two pretty amazing daughters. Born in California and most recently from Seattle, she currently lives in London with her husband and her dog, 99.

Tuesday, November 15
9:00 am
Kwame Christian
How to Have Difficult Conversations About Race

Join us for an enlightening hour with bestselling author Kwame Christian as he chats about his new book How to Have Difficult Conversations About Race: Practical Tools for Necessary Change in the Workplace and Beyond. 

How to Have Difficult Conversations About Race helps readers gain the confidence to not only talk about race but actually make a difference when you do. Negotiation expert Kwame Christian’s motto is: “The best things in life are on the other side of difficult conversations.” If we want a more equitable workplace and a more equitable world, we have to talk to each other about race. But, for so many of us, that’s easier said than done. Many people avoid conversations about race because of fear: fear of discomfort, damaging important relationships, being misunderstood, “canceled,” or ostracized. How to Have Difficult Conversations About Race equips you with the skills you need to make these crucial conversations easier and more productive. Whether you’re looking to create change for yourself and other BIPOC, or a white ally seeking to support your coworkers or clients, you’ll learn how to:

• Overcome your internal barriers to talking about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
• Work around others’ barriers to productive discussion.
• Be strategic about the outcome you want, and guide the conversation accordingly.
• Use “Compassionate Curiosity” to connect and persuade.
• Avoid common mistakes.
• Communicate more effectively over email, when you can’t talk face to face.

If you’ve ever struggled to turn that passion into persuasion, or been too afraid to speak up at work (or outside of it), this talk is for you. The first step toward lasting social change is productive discussion. With Kwame Christian guiding you, you’ll never shy away from those important conversations again–instead approaching them with courage and conviction.

Kwame Christian is a best-selling author, lawyer, professor, and the Managing Director of the American Negotiation Institute. He has conducted countless specialized pieces of training worldwide and is a highly sought-after keynote speaker. His best-selling book, Finding Confidence in Conflict: How to Negotiate Anything and Live Your Best Life has helped countless individuals overcome the fear, anxiety, and emotion associated with difficult conversations using the Compassionate Curiosity™ Framework. He’s also the host of the Negotiate Anything Podcast. With over four million downloads and listeners in more than 180 countries, it is the most popular negotiation podcast in the world.

In addition, Kwame is a business lawyer at Carlile, Patchen & Murphy LLP and serves as a professor for The Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law in its top-ranked dispute resolution program and Otterbein University’s MBA program. Kwame’s proudest achievement is his family. He’s married to Dr. Whitney Christian and they have two lovely sons, Kai and Dominic.