George Howe Colt, who has written intimate tales of boyhood, sibling relationships, and family history, will speak about his work on Oct. 7 as part of Williston Northampton School’s annual speaker series.
Mr. Colt, the bestselling author of The Big House, will present the next lecture in the Writers’ Workshop Series—all of which are free and open to the public—at 7:00 p.m. in the Dodge Room, Reed Campus Center.
Along with The Big House (2004), which was a National Book Award finalist for nonfiction and a New York Times notable book of the year, Mr. Colt has written November of the Soul: The Enigma of Suicide (2006) and Brothers (Scribner 2012). He worked for Life magazine as a staff reporter and has also published pieces in The New York Times, Civilization, and Mother Jones.
In its “briefly noted” section, The New Yorker summed up The Big House this way: “Colt’s account, like the house that lies at its center, is full of surprises and contains more than seems humanly possible: a family memoir, a brief history of the Cape, an investigation of nostalgia, a catalogue of local fauna, a study of class, and a meditation on the privileges and burdens of the past.”
Following Mr. Colt, this year’s Writers’ Workshop Series will feature talks by novelist Jennifer DuBois ’02 on October 17 and Mr. Colt’s wife, essayist and reporter Anne Fadiman, on November 3. The series, now in its 17th year, was founded by Madeleine Blais P’00, ’04 and Elinor Lipman P’00 and, in addition to four lectures by prominent authors each fall, includes master classes for Williston students.
