Isabel Wilkerson, Winner of Pulitzer Prize, Named Stern Lecture Speaker

Written by Joe Armstrong, Content Specialist, Downtown Main Library

Isabel Wilkerson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, National Humanities Medal recipient, and author of the New York Times bestsellers "The Warmth of Other Suns," and "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents" is the 2023 Mary S. Stern Lecture Series Speaker!

Wilkerson will speak on October 5 at the Aronoff Center for the Arts. Tickets, available for purchase between $5-$15, will go on sale this August. For the latest information visit the Stern Lecture webpage.

"The Warmth of Other Suns"

Wilkerson's ability to thoughtfully explore the depths of societal issues will be at the focus of this year's lecture as she discusses her bestselling book, "The Warmth of Other Suns." With her captivating storytelling and meticulous research of the Great Migration, Wilkerson will delve into the intricate dynamics of race, identity, and social hierarchies. 

Read or listen to books, ebooks, and audiobooks by Wilkerson free with your library card:

The Warmth of Other Suns

Caste

About Isabel Wilkerson

“Wilkerson's work,” in the words of The American Prospect magazine, “is the missing puzzle piece of our country's history.”

"The Warmth of Other Suns" won the National Book Critics Circle Award, among other honors, and was named to more than 30 Best of the Year lists, including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker and The Washington Post. TIME Magazine named it one of the “10 Best Non-Fiction Books” of the decade. The New York Times Magazine named Warmth to its list of the best nonfiction books of all time.

Her new book, "Caste: The Origins of our Discontents," was published in August 2020 to critical acclaim and became a Number 1 New York Times bestseller. Dwight Garner of The New York Times called it, “An instant American classic and almost certainly the keynote nonfiction book of the American century thus far.” Oprah Winfrey chose it as her 2020 Summer/Fall book club selection, declaring it “the most important book” she had ever selected.

Wilkerson won the Pulitzer Prize for her deeply humane narrative writing while serving as Chicago Bureau Chief of The New York Times in 1994, making her the first black woman in the history of American journalism to win a Pulitzer Prize and the first African American to win for individual reporting. In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded Wilkerson the National Humanities Medal for "championing the stories of an unsung history."

Bringing Thought Leaders to Our Community

The late Mary S. Stern endowed an annual lecture series for the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library through The Library Foundation to support bringing internationally renowned thought leaders to our community. As part of Stern's lasting legacy, tickets for the lecture series are priced to ensure today's renowned thinkers are accessible to as many people as possible. Tickets for this year's lecture featuring Isabel Wilkerson will be priced between $5-15 and go on sale in August.

The Stern Lecture Series invites lecturers who can honor Stern’s legacy by advancing the Library’s mission to connect our community with a world of ideas and information. Isabel Wilkerson joins Walter Isaacson (2022), Doris Kearns Goodwin (2021), and Bryan Stevenson (2019) as Mary S. Stern Lecture Series speakers.

The Mary S. Stern Lecture Series is possible through an endowment to The Library Foundation. Get the latest information about this year's Mary S. Stern lecture featuring Isabel Wilkerson on our website.