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  Pen to Purpose; Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with Jeanine Cummins

  Efrat Friedman

  We invite you to join us for an engaging conversation between NSU's Professor Efrat Friedman and author Jeanine Cummins. With over three million copies sold, Jeanine's novel American Dirt is a #1 New York Times bestseller and an Oprah Book Club pick.

  Lydia lives in Acapulco. She has a son, Luca, whom she adores, and a wonderful husband, a journalist. Despite the fact that cracks are beginning to show in Acapulco as a result of the cartels, Lydia's life is, on the whole, fairly comfortable. Her life will never be the same after her husband's tell-all profile of the newest drug lord is published. After being forced to flee, Lydia and Luca join the hordes of people trying to reach the United States. Lydia soon realizes that everyone is running from something. But what exactly are they running to?

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  Pen to Purpose; Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with Michael Frank

  Gena Meroth

  Michael Frank is the author of What is Missing, a novel, and The Mighty Franks, a memoir, which won the 2018 JQ-Wingate Prize and was named one of the best books of the year by The Telegraph and The New Statesman. Michael served as a Contributing Writer to the Los Angeles Times Book Review for nearly ten years. His most recent book is One Hundred Saturdays, the story of Stella Levi, who was raised within the culturally rich and vibrant Juderia of Rhodes, and who, along with her community, was transported to Auschwitz in 1944. A recipient of a 2020 Guggenheim Fellowship, Michael lives with his family in New York City and Camogli, Italy.

  Please join us online or in-person for a conversation with Michael Frank, author of One Hundred Saturdays, the story of Stella Levi and her once vibrant Jewish community of Rhodes, Greece. Frank's novel delves into the culturally rich traditions of the Sephardic Juderia, whose members originally migrated from Turkey and Spain and who communicated in a plethora of languages, including Hebrew, Spanish, Turkish, and Italian.

  Topics covered during the discussion will include: Stella’s coming-of-age on this luminous, legendary island in the eastern Aegean, the cultural vibrancy of the Rhodes Jewish community, the significance of the Italian colonization of Rhodes in 1912, and the deportation and destruction of the Jewish community from the furthest location under Nazi influence.

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  Pen to Purpose: Leading With Care in a Tough World: Beyond Servant Leadership

  Efrat Friedman

  During this Pen to Purpose session, NSU Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts professor Efrat Friedman will interview the authors of Leading With Care in a Tough World: Beyond Servant Leadership. According to the authors, Bob DeKoch and Phillip G. Clampitt, poor leadership is the cause of many of today's organizational ills (for example, employee disengagement, turnover, and absenteeism). What is the problem? It is true that some leaders possess the right beliefs and sentiments. Other individuals may be able to provide the necessary skills. Yet, in order to address the current challenges facing employees and organizations, world-class leaders must have BOTH the right beliefs as well as the right practices.
  
  Bob DeKoch has devoted his entire career to leadership roles, refining his own skills, and mentoring hundreds of aspiring leaders. His passion for people and for extraordinary outcomes is what drives him. Rising to senior executive roles in numerous organizations, Bob has developed and put into practice the many teachings in his books. He has over four decades of experience across major market sectors: the construction services industry and real estate development business, the pulp and paper industry, the beverage industry, and the chemical industry. He has served on boards of US organizations—for-profit and nonprofit—as well as a major international corporation. This diverse experience has helped him develop unique insight into inspired leadership. Bob is currently the founder of the leadership consulting firm, Limitless, whose services are described at www.lmtlss.biz.

  Phillip G. Clampitt (PhD, University of Kansas) is the Blair Endowed Chair of Communication at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay. He was previously designated the Hendrickson Named Professor of Business. Phil has won numerous awards for his teaching and scholarship. His students started calling him “Dr. So What” because he asked, “So what?” so often, as a prod to encourage them to think about the implications of their ideas (see www.DrSoWhat.com). The Wall Street Journal and MIT Sloan Management Review highlighted his work on decision downloading, which details how companies can effectively communicate decisions to those not involved in the decision-making process. Phil has consulted on leadership, communication, and strategic planning with organizations such as Nokia, PepsiCo, The US Army War College, Schneider National, and Dental City.

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  Pen to Purpose; Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with Debby Applegate

  Efrat Friedman

  Debby Applegate is a historian and writer of two critically acclaimed biographies. Her first book The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher, won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 2007, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Book Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for biography, and was named one of the best books of the year.

  With her second book, Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age, she plunged from the world of virtue to the underbelly of vice.

  Debby was a Sterling Fellow in American Studies at Yale University, where she earned her Ph.D. She has taught at Yale University, Wesleyan University, and Marymount College.

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  Pen to Purpose; Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with Cristina García

  Efrat Friedman

  Please join us online or in-person for a conversation with Cristina Garcia, author of eight novels including Dreaming in Cuban, The Agüero Sisters, Monkey Hunting, A Handbook to Luck, The Lady Matador’s Hotel, King of Cuba, Here in Berlin, and the forthcoming Vanishing Maps (Knopf, June 2023).
  
  García's novels incorporate themes relating to Cuban culture, the tumultuous revolution, and the Cuban diaspora in the United States.
  
  García’s work has been nominated for a National Book Award and translated into fifteen languages. She has taught at universities nationwide and is currently playwright-in-residence at Central Works Theater in Berkeley, California.
  
  Topics covered during the discussion will include: the craft of writing, the significance of recurring themes within Cristina’s stories, and the post-revolution reverberations for Cubans of all generations.

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  Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with David Sipress

  Efrat Friedman

  David Sipress has been a staff cartoonist at The New Yorker since 1998. He has published nearly seven hundred cartoons in the magazine. His cartoons have also appeared in many other publications including: Time, Parade, Playboy, Funny Times, and The Washington Post. David has published eight collections of his cartoons and has lectured widely on his work. What’s So Funny, A Cartoonist’s Memoir is a compelling story about David’s life and the art of cartooning.

  Topics covered during the discussion will include: Art as a means of communication; is a picture worth a thousand words? The significance of art in today’s world, and art as a therapeutic means to deal with the past.

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  Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with Jen Maxfield

  Efrat Friedman

  A conversation with Jen Maxfield about her new book More After the Break: A Reporter Returns to Ten Unforgettable News Stories. In More After the Break, Maxfield revisits the most memorable stories she has covered during her two-decade career, describing in heart-pounding detail how the events unfolded through eyewitness perspectives and her own.

  Jen Maxfield is an Emmy award-winning reporter and anchor who started at NBC New York in 2013. Prior to joining the station, she worked for Eyewitness News (ABC7) In New York City. She launched her journalism career with WIVT-TV (Binghamton, NY) and WIXT-TV (Syracuse, NY). She has reported live from thousands of news events over her twenty-two-year career.

  Maxfield is also an Adjunct Professor at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where she teaches broadcast journalism.

  Topics covered during the discussion will include: How strong writing skills correspond to high-level reporting, the different types of writing within the medium, and the change in quality of reporting with news publications downsizing.

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  Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with Neal Bascomb

  Efrat Friedman

  A conversation with Neal Bascomb about his latest book Faster; How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car beat Hitler’s Best. Bascomb is a national award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of multiple non-fiction narratives including: The Escape Artists, Hunting Eichmann, and Red Mutiny. Bascomb’s stories incorporate history, adventure and achievement, and bravery, often times set against the backdrop of war or revolution. His work has been translated into over fifteen languages, featured in several documentaries, and optioned for major film and television projects. Bascomb is also the creator of Work/Craft/Life, a newsletter about the illuminating stories of our lives told through our work/craft. Topics covered during the discussion will include: Faster and its materialization into an action-packed adventure, Bascomb’s literary journey, and the intersectionality of journalism, non-fiction, and fiction.

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  Pen to Purpose: Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with Malcolm Mitchell

  Efrat Friedman

  Please join us online or in-person for a conversation with Malcolm Mitchell, former wide receiver for the New England Patriots and author of the children’s book, The Magician’s Hat and My Very Favorite Book in the Whole Wide World.

  Malcolm Mitchell presents the story of a magician who reveals an awe-inspiring treasure from his bag of tricks -- books that make every kid's dream come true! This is not your typical afternoon at the library -- a magician invites kids to reach into his hat to pull out whatever they find when they dig down deep. Soon -- poof! -- each child comes away with something better than they could've imagined -- a book that helps them become whatever they want to be, and makes their dreams come true through pages and words, and the adventures that follow.

  Malcolm Mitchell is the rookie who helped the New England Patriots win Super Bowl LI. He's also the founder of an initiative called Read with Malcolm, which introduces book ownership to students, and works to improve literacy in schools. Malcolm's Share the Magic Foundation promotes the benefits of reading to kids in underserved communities.

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  Pen to Purpose: Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with Jean Hanff Korelitz

  Efrat Friedman

  Join us online or in-person for a conversation with Jean Hanff Korelitz, the New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Plot, You Should Have Known (adapted for HBO as "The Undoing" by David E. Kelley and starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant).

  Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectably published first book. Today, he's teaching in a third-rate MFA program and struggling to maintain what's left of his self-respect; he hasn't written--let alone published--anything decent in years. When Evan Parker, his most arrogant student, announces he doesn't need Jake's help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake is prepared to dismiss the boast as typical amateur narcissism. But then . . . he hears The Plot.

  Learn more about the author here.

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  Pen to Purpose: Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with David Weill, MD

  Efrat Friedman

  Join us online or in-person for a conversation with David Weill, MD, author of Exhale.

  Exhale is the riveting memoir of a top transplant doctor who rode the emotional rollercoaster of saving and losing lives—until it was time to step back and reassess his own life.

  Learn more about the author here.

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  Pen to Purpose: Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with Jai Chakrabarti

  Efrat Friedman

  Join us for a conversation with Jai Chakrabarti, author of A Play for the End of the World.

  Travel with us from the Warsaw Ghetto to Shantiniketan, India to discover how the same play was both a source of comfort during the darkest of hours, and decades later, an act of protest against political injustice.

  Learn more about the author at jaichakrabarti.com