Jonathan has taught creative writing (at Yale, Columbia and NYU) for nearly two decades, and spent most of his life in conversation with artists of all kinds: painters, choreographers, magicians, film directors, musicians, poets. Despite the diversity of experiences, he has distilled some fundamental similarities, which are useful for not only practicing artists, but everyone. In this lively speech---which involves interactive exercises with the audience---he traces the ways in which creativity is an intentional process of seeking accidents.

Jewish life is changing: violence against Jews, informed by a far broader acceptance of violent stories about Jews, has become regularized; American Jewry’s relationship to Israel is precarious; and Jewish representation (in the arts, politics, and in academia) is precipitously declining. Drawing on his decades as a public Jewish intellectual, Jonathan explores possible futures for the Jewish people, and what can be done to encourage best outcomes.

Like many young Americans, Jonathan spent much of his teenage and college years oscillating between enthusiastic carnivore and occasional vegetarian. As he became a husband, and then a father, the moral dimensions of eating became increasingly important to him. Faced with the prospect of being unable to explain why we eat some animals and not others, Foer set out to explore the origins of many eating traditions and the fictions involved with creating them. The resulting book, Eating Animals, is part memoir and part investigative report. In the words of the Los Angeles Times, places Jonathan Safran Foer "at the table with our greatest philosophers." The story of how the book came to be, and what Jonathan learned, make for an invigorating, wide-ranging conversation.

Some people reject the fact, overwhelmingly supported by scientists, that our planet is warming because of human activity. But do those of us who accept the reality of human-caused climate change truly believe it? If we did, surely we would be roused to act on what we know. Will future generations distinguish between those who didn’t believe in the science of global warming and those who said they accepted the science but failed to change their lives in response? In this talk, draws on science, story and personal history (as the grandson of Holocaust survivors) to explore the difference between knowing and believing in climate change.

Combining several formats---book reading, literary investigation, and audience interaction---Jonathan delights audiences with a behind the scenes exploration of his bestselling novels.