The Boston Public Library (BPL) announced its 2026 Fall Lecture Series, bringing award-winning authors, acclaimed filmmakers, and influential visionaries to Copley Square and the Shaw-Roxbury Branch this fall, with programs spanning literary fiction, documentary film, and public conversations on science and technology. All events are hybrid – free to attend in person or live via Zoom Webinar. Registration is available at bpl.org/events.
At a Glance:
• Sept. 22 — Sarah Botstein
• Sept. 29 — N.K. Jemisin
• Oct. 3 — Ann Patchett
• Oct. 21 — AI and Civic Engagement Panel
• Oct. 28 — Nicholas Boggs
• Nov. 9 — Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett
Lowell Lecture: Sarah Botstein from Florentine Films
Tuesday, September 22, 2026 | 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM | Central Library in Copley Square
As a filmmaker who has collaborated with Ken Burns for nearly 30 years as part of Florentine Films, Sarah Botstein will discuss her latest film, PBS’s The American Revolution, alongside historical filmmaking and revolutionary techniques Florentine Films uses to bring history to life. An Emmy-nominated documentary producer, Botstein will be in conversation with Imari Paris Jeffries of Embrace Boston. This Lowell Lecture will be introduced by BPL President David Leonard.
Author Talk: N.K. Jemisin on Revolutionary Ideas in Fantasy Fiction
Tuesday, September 29, 2026 | 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM | Central Library in Copley Square
Award-winning fantasy author N.K. Jemisin discusses a 20-plus-year career built on reimagining what fantasy fiction can do. A 2020 MacArthur Fellow, Jemisin’s short fiction and novels have earned multiple Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. Her novels, including the Broken Earth trilogy, with over two million copies sold, have been widely optioned for film and television.
2026 Maury A. Bromsen Humanistic Literary Arts Lecture: Ann Patchett
Saturday, October 3, 2026 | 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM | Central Library in Copley Square
Bestselling author Ann Patchett headlines this year’s Bromsen Lecture. A National Humanities Medal and PEN/Faulkner Award recipient, Patchett was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her novel The Dutch House was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and her work, translated into more than thirty languages, has repeatedly landed on the New York Times bestseller list.
Lowell Lecture: AI and Civic Engagement with Nathan Sanders, Dr. Avijit Ghosh, Jessica Chapel and David Leonard
Wednesday, October 21, 2026 | 6:00 – 7:30 PM | Central Library in Copley Square
AI experts Nathan Sanders, Dr. Avijit Ghosh, and Jessica Chapel join for a conversation on AI and civic engagement, moderated by BPL President David Leonard. Nathan Sanders is a data scientist focused on making policymaking more participatory, with research spanning machine learning, astrophysics, and public health. His writing on AI and democracy has appeared in The New York Times and The Atlantic. Dr. Avijit Ghosh is a Lead Technical AI Policy Researcher at Hugging Face, focused on how AI systems are measured and whether those measurements can be trusted. He founded the EvalEval Coalition and represents Hugging Face in AI governance discussions with regulators in the U.S., U.K., E.U., and Singapore. Jessica Chapel is Chief of Digital & Online Services at the Boston Public Library, where she leads digitization, digital stewardship, and UX, with a growing focus on AI’s role in information access.
Author Talk: Nicholas Boggs — Baldwin: A Love Story
Wednesday, October 28, 2026 | 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM | Central Library in Copley Square
Author Nicholas Boggs speaks about his recent New York Times bestselling biography of James Baldwin, Baldwin: A Love Story, in celebration of LGBTQ+ History Month, moderated by Jesse McCarthy. Boggs is the winner of the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography, the Stonewall/Israel Fishman Nonfiction Award, and the Randy Shilts Nonfiction Award. Jesse McCarthy is John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and of the Social Sciences at Harvard University, and the author of The Blue Period: Black Writing in the Early Cold War, Who Will Pay Reparations on My Soul?, and the novel, The Fugitivities. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, and The New York Review of Books.
Lowell Lecture: A Conversation with Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett
Monday, November 9, 2026 | 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM | Shaw-Roxbury Branch
Renowned virologist and TIME Hero of the Year Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett discusses her groundbreaking work in vaccine development. Corbett led the team behind one of the fastest vaccine developments in history during the COVID-19 pandemic, and her patented technology underlies vaccines used worldwide, including those from Moderna, Pfizer, and Novavax. The conversation will be moderated by Frederica M. Williams, President and CEO of Whittier Street Health Center, one of Boston’s preeminent community health systems.
The Fall Lecture Series is made possible by generous donations to the Boston Public Library Fund, including support from the Lowell Institute and the Eric & Jane Nord Family Fund for Author Events, with additional support for the Maury A. Bromsen Humanistic Literary Arts Lecture.
For the full schedule and to register, visit bpl.org/events.
