JFK Library Forums

Seán Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway's grandson, presents the 2018 PEN/Hemingway Award at this ceremony to Weike Wang for her novel Chemistry. Ricardo Cortez Cruz, author of Straight Outta Comptonand Five Days of Bleeding, will be the keynote speaker. The Kennedy Library is the major repository of Ernest Hemingway's personal papers. This program is presented in partnership with PEN/New England and PEN/America.

Pulitzer Prize-winning former Boston Globe columnist Eileen McNamara discusses her new book, Eunice: The Kennedy Who Changed the World, with award-winning journalist Larry Tye.

Susan Benesch, director of the Dangerous Speech Project, Jennifer Peter, managing editor of The Boston Globe, and Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, discuss contemporary First Amendment issues. Award-winning journalist and senior correspondent for WBUR's Bostonomix Bruce Gellerman moderates.

Lawrence O’Donnell, author of Playing with Fire: The 1968 Election and the Transformation of American Politics and host of MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell; Fredrik Logevall, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam; and Christian Appy, professor of history at UMass Amherst and author of American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity discuss the critical events of 1968 in Vietnam and in American politics with Ellen Fitzpatrick, professor of history at the University of New Hampshire.

Join reporters and community and business leaders in a discussion of the recent series,"Boston. Racism. Image. Reality." As Boston builds out, how do we make sure there's a different blueprint for our future? How does Boston become a more welcoming city to all? Award-winning journalist and pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church Liz Walker leads the conversation. This program is supported in part by the Hyams Foundation, National Grid, and The Partnership, and Blue Cross Blue Shield.

In commemoration of Presidents’ Day, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Gordon S. Wood discusses his new book, Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Harvard professor of history Annette Gordon-Reed moderates.

Dan Balz, Chief Correspondent at The Washington Post, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, University of Pennsylvania professor of communication, and Tom Nichols, author of The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters, discuss

Peter Edelman, Georgetown law professor and former advisor to Senator Robert F. Kennedy, discussed key challenges raised in his new book, Not a Crime to Be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America, with Lisa Mullins, host of WBUR’s All Things Considered.

Chris Matthews, anchor of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, discusses his new book, Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit, with Martin Nolan, former reporter and editor for The Boston Globe.

Richard Aldous, professor of history at Bard College, discussed his book, Schlesinger: The Imperial Historian, a biography of Arthur Schlesinger Jr., special assistant to President Kennedy, with Timothy Naftali, NYU professor of history and public service and CNN contributor.