Yale Library Book Talk series presents its 2024–25 lineup of new author events

Each semester, the Yale Library Book Talk series features lectures by and conversations with expert authors who have newly released books of fiction or nonfiction.

The 2024–25 fall/winter season showcases a nonfiction lineup: librarian spies during World War II; a biography of Henri Christophe, the only king of Haiti; the history of the Bible, from the 2nd century to the 21st; translations of surahs from the Qu’ran; and the history of Yale’s own beloved Handsome Dan, from 1890 to today.

The series will launch on Sept. 23 with “On Freedom,” the latest book by the prize-winning author Timothy Snyder, Yale University’s professor of History and Global Affairs.

All events are free and open to the public and will be held on Wednesday afternoons at 4 p.m. in the lecture hall at Sterling Memorial Library. After the presentations, authors will be available for conversation at an informal closing reception. Here’s the lineup:

Sept. 23
“On Freedom”

Timothy Snyder—Yale University’s Richard C. Levin Professor of History and the prize-winning author of the New York Times bestseller “On Tyranny” and others—will present his newest book about American political philosophy, “On Freedom.” Professor Snyder will be in conversation with James Levinsohn, the inaugural dean and Charles W. Goodyear Professor at Yale’s Jackson School of Global Affairs. (Registration for in-person attendance is closed. Livestream only, via this link.)

Oct. 9 
Reading the Bible, Reading the Qu’ran: A Conversation

Bruce Gordon, Titus Street Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Yale Divinity School, is the author of “The Bible: A Global History.” Professor Shawkat Toorawa—Professor of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations and Professor of Comparative Literature—is the editor and translator of “The Devotional Qur’an: Beloved Surahs and Verses.” Both authors’ books are new releases.

Nov. 13 
“Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of WWII”

Yale alumna Elyse Graham, ’15 Ph.D., is professor of English language and literature at Stony Brook University in New York, specializing in media studies and the history of the book. This book, her most recent, reveals the central role that literature professors, librarians, and historians, who enlisted in the Office of Strategic Services—the precursor to the CIA—played in shaping the course of events in World War II.

Feb. 5 
“The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe”

Marlene Daut, Professor of French and African Diaspora Studies at Yale, has written a biography of the famous and infamous turn-of-the-19th-century figure Henry Christophe—a once enslaved West African who became a leader in the Haitian revolution against France, eventually a traitor to fellow revolutionaries, and the only monarch of the Kingdom of Haiti. The author will be in conversation with Grégory Pierrot, associate professor of English at the University of Connecticut–Stamford, where he teaches American and African American literature.

April 9 
“Handsome Dan: A History”

Jay Gitlin, ’71, ’74 Mus. M., ’02 Ph.D., senior lecturer in History, will present his new book “Handsome Dan: A History.” The book traces the long history of Yale’s beloved mascots, a succession of 19 Old English Bulldogs who have passed along the moniker “Handsome Dan,” beginning with Harper, circa 1890, to Kingman, the current holder of the title. Gitlin is also the co-author with his son, Basie Gitlin ’10, of a history of another treasured Yale institution: “Mory’s: A Brief History,” published in 2014.

The Yale Library Book Talk series focuses on the research and writing processes of Yale faculty, alumni, and other authors who have worked with Yale Library collections.

Subscribe to the Yale Library Book Talk mailing list to learn about future events. Suggestions for books and authors to feature in future programs are welcome.

—Deborah Cannarella