We are thrilled to announce that Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon will be the keynote speaker at our Annual Dinner on Tuesday, September 30 at the Radisson Center of New Hampshire in Manchester.

The Humanities Council's Annual Dinner gathers New Hampshire's corporate, civic, academic and philanthropic communities for networking and inspiration, and raises funds vital to the Council's ability to bring new ideas and civil conversations to the people of New Hampshire.

This year's dinner will mark the launch of a year-long celebration of our 40th anniversary. The evening will feature some wonderful surprises as we prepare to celebrate four decades of connecting people with ideas.

Check out this New York Times article for inspiration for your summer reading list and some insight into Chabon's favorite books

Renowned speakers such as David Brooks, Salman Rushdie, Ken Burns, Colum McCann, Tom Brokaw, Elie Wiesel, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Doris Kearns Goodwin have ensured that past Annual Dinners have sold out within weeks.

Interested in sponsorship opportunities? Contact Development Director Jessica Eshleman at 224-4071 x113 or by e-mail.

We are deeply grateful to the sponsors who have already signed on to underwrite this event:

Lead Sponsor for the 24th Year

Humanities Sponsor

Keynote Sponsor

Book Sponsor

Reception Sponsor

Technology Sponsor

Beer Sponsor

Wine Sponsor

Hops & Barley Sponsor

Book Signing Sponsor

Innovation Sponsor

Salad Sponsor

Coffee Sponsor

Benefactor

Plymouth State University

Patrons

Checkmate Payroll

The Derryfield School

Harvest Capital

McLane Law Firm

Orr & Reno

Radisson Manchester

Saint Anselm College

St. Paul's School

Chabon was born in Washington, D.C. and raised mostly in Columbia, a planned city with utopian aspirations in the Maryland tobacco country. He studied at Carnegie-Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh, and received an M.F.A. in Creative Writing at UC Irvine.

Chabon is the author of seven novels, two collections of essays and two collections of short stories. His second novel, Wonder Boys, was made into a critically-acclaimed film featuring actors Michael Douglas and Tobey Maguire. He has also written articles, essays, screenplays, and edited The Best American Short Stories 2005.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay won the New York Society Library Prize for Fiction, the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award, the Commonwealth Club Gold Medal, and the Pulitzer Prize. His most recent novel is the bestseller Telegraph Avenue.

Chabon is chairman of the board of directors at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, the oldest arts colony in the U.S. In 2012 he was voted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has appeared before audiences all over the United States and in Russia, Finland, Lithuania, Italy, France, Great Britain, Germany and Canada.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to speak in New Hampshire on Constitution Day, September 17, at Constitutionally Speaking Event

On Wednesday, September 17, New Hampshire will celebrate Constitution Day in a very special way. Retired United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will speak at 6 p.m. at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord, introduced by her friend and fellow Supreme Court Justice David Souter. O'Connor will deliver the William W. Treat Lecture and her topic, The State of Democracy in America Today, will serve as the animating idea for the second year of Constitutionally Speaking, an initiative that invites the public, teachers, and students to consider and thoughtfully discuss our rights and responsibilities as citizens.

Justice O'Connor's talk is offered free to the public as a result of a generous grant from the William W. Treat Foundation to the NH Institute for Civic Education. While the event is free, tickets are required.
Reserve seats on the Capitol Center for the Arts website.

Learn more about this event and other aspects of the Constitutionally Speaking on the project website.

Sandra Day O'Connor was born in El Paso, Texas. She received her B.A. and LL.B. from Stanford University. In 1975 she was elected Judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court and served until 1979, when she was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals. President Reagan nominated her as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and she took her seat September 25, 1981. Justice O'Connor retired from the Supreme Court on January 31, 2006. Following her retirement from the Court, Justice O'Connor has continued her judicial service by hearing cases in the United States Courts of Appeals. In recognition of her lifetime accomplishments, President Barack Obama awarded Justice O'Connor with the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, on August 12, 2009.

Constitutionally Speaking aims to promote meaningful civics education in New Hampshire schools and spirited, yet civil, dialogue about the nation's founding document among the state's citizens. The coming year will include symposia at the Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership, and Public Policy in November and at the NH Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in February featuring constitutional scholars and civic leaders in Ted-X style presentations; an interscholastic conference for high school students organized by the NH Humanities Council in November; a major address at the Capitol Center for the Arts in May; and the development of a DVD and study guide for NH teachers incorporating highlights from the year's programming.