The Boston Public Library and the Boston Public Library Fund welcome award-winning author Ann Patchett to speak at the 2026 Maury A. Bromsen Lecture. Patchett is joined in conversation by her friend and fellow author, Katrina Kenison.

The Maury A. Bromsen Lecture Series at the Boston Public Library was established to celebrate authors whose work illuminates the depth, dignity, and complexity of the human experience. In its renewed form, the series will foreground literature that brings individual lives fully into view—work that reflects Maury Bromsen’s vision of humanistic bibliography by exploring how personal narratives, lived experience, and moral imagination shape our collective understanding of history, culture, and community. The lecture offers a space for distinguished writers to reflect on their creative journeys, share insights into their recent work, and consider how storytelling can deepen empathy and understanding in a complex world.