May 24, 2024
Meghan O’Toole
Schneiderman to interview bestselling author at Lake Forest Reads event
A widow’s unexpected friendship with an octopus residing at the local aquarium leads her to uncover the truth about her son's disappearance 30 years prior—this is the subject of Shelby Van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures, which is this year's pick for the annual Lake Forest Reads event.
Davis Schneiderman, Executive Director of the Krebs Center for the Humanities and Professor of English, will interview Van Pelt at the Gorton Center in Lake Forest at 7 p.m. on November 1, 2024.
Van Pelt’s book, which was published in 2022, is a New York Times bestseller celebrated for its unique approach to themes of loss, grief, and friendship. Van Pelt has shared that the idea came to her when considering the frustration animals must feel in captivity.
Schneiderman, a seasoned interviewer, has engaged in thought-provoking discussions with numerous acclaimed authors at previous Lake Forest Reads events, including Lauren Groff, Rebecca Makkai, Jamie Ford, Marie Benedict, and Jean Kwok. He recently spoke with Zeynep Tufecki about the humanities in the age of artificial intelligence.
Lake Forest Reads is an annual program founded in 2012 that encourages Lake Foresters to come together and read one book with the purpose of fostering literacy, a culture of reading, and a sense of community. Lake Forest Library and community partners present a month-long series of events and activities focusing on themes in the novel, culminating in a Meet the Author event.
For more information visit: www.lfreads.org.
About the Krebs Center: The Krebs Center for the Humanities is set in an Italianate villa in Lake Forest where the traditional and the cutting-edge converge and where literature, philosophy, history, and the arts are not just subjects of study but also dynamic forces that prepare students to meet an ever-evolving future. The Krebs Center underscores the College’s commitment to paving the way for a future where creativity, critical thinking, and empathy take center stage.