Other Great Books Programs​

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Events Around the Country​

This is a rundown of upcoming Great Books events in the United States and Canada. Most of these are organized by Great Books Regional Councils; some are organized by related organizations. Click the hyperlinks for further details and to register for the events.

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• February 23, 2020: Leader-Reader Workshop, Lafayette, CA

• April 17-19, 2020: Barbara McConnell Great Books Weekend at Asilomar, Pacific Grove, CA

  • Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince; Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go; Margaret Edson, Wit; selected poetry.

• May 1-3, 2020: Great Books Chicago, Chicago, IL

  • Theme: Exploring Beauty. Thomas Mann, Death in Venice; Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye; Anton Chekhov, "The Beauties"; Roger Fry, "An Essay in Aesthetics"; selected poems.

• May 1-3, 2020: New England Great Books Council Spring Retreat, Litchfield, CT​

  • Theme: Voices from the Harlem Renaissance. Alain Locke, "The New Negro"; Tobi Haslett, "The Man Who Led the Harlem Renaissance -- And His Hidden Hungers"; Zora Neale Hurston, Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"; Nella Larsen, Passing; selected poetry of the period.

• May 16, 2020: Gold Country Mini-Retreat, Auburn, CA

  • Reading: Heinrich Harrer, Seven Years in Tibet.​

• June 14, 2020: Great Books San Francisco Annual Picnic and Annual Meeting, Berkeley, CA

  • Reading: Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle.​

• June 27, 2020: Long Island Great Books Council Spring Discussion, New York, NY

  • Theme: Human Caused Evil. Readings: William Shakespeare, Richard III; ​Andrew M. Lobaczewski, Political Ponerology.

• July 11-12, 2020: Long Novel Weekend, Menlo Park, CA

  • Reading: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children.​

• July 12-17, 2020: Toronto Pursuits, Toronto, CA​

  • A week of participatory seminars on literature, art, music and film. Theme: Pivot Points.​

• July 19-25, 2020: Great Books at Colby College, Waterville, ME​

  • Theme: American Experience. Readings: Elizabeth Anderson, The Imperative of Integration; Marilynne Robinson, Gilead; Annie Dillard, An American Childhood; Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death; Philip Roth, American Pastoral; August Wilson, Gem of the Ocean.​

• August 31, 2020: Long Island Great Books Council Fall Discussion, ​Commack, NY

  • Theme: Outsiders and Insiders. Readings: E. M. Forster, A Passage to India; W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk.​

• November ​21-22, 2020: Poetry Weekend, Menlo Park, CA

Universities and Colleges that Offer a Great Books Curriculum