Thomas Chatterton Williams has long been one of America’s most fearless writers on American culture and politics.
On Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m., Williams joins the Fairfield University community for an engaging discussion at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts, entitled Thomas Chatterton Williams and the Summer of Our Discontent. Williams will be joined in conversation by Phil Klay, associate professor of English in the John Charles Meditz College of Arts and Sciences, and National Book Award-winning author.
Williams is the author of two highly acclaimed books: Self-Portrait in Black and White: Family, Fatherhood, and Rethinking Race, a TIME “Must Read” book, and Losing My Cool: Love, Literature, and a Black Man’s Escape from the Crowd. His newest book, Summer of Our Discontent, debuted in August 2025 and offers a timely meditation on freedom of thought, the tension between principle and partisanship, and the evolving boundaries of public discourse. Summer of Our Discontent looks at how various existential crises plaguing the American liberal tradition came to a head during 2020, in which COVID, the George Floyd protests, the presidency of Donald Trump, and social media paved the way for a paradigm shift in American politics and culture.
A visiting professor of the humanities and senior fellow at the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College, Williams is a contributing writer at The Atlantic. Previously a columnist at Harper’s and a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, his work has also appeared in The New Yorker, London Review of Books, Le Monde, and numerous other publications, and has been collected in The Best American Essays and The Best American Travel Writing. A 2022 Guggenheim fellow and recipient of the Berlin Prize from The American Academy in Berlin, he was also a 2019 New America national fellow and is currently a visiting fellow at AEI.
The Inspired Writers Series, which serves as a companion to the MFA in Creative Writing program in the John Charles Meditz College of Arts and Sciences, offers engaging discussions with top authors. Designed to inform, inspire, and entertain, the series provides invaluable insight for writers while welcoming all participants into thought-provoking literary conversations.
Wien Experimental Theatre
$20 | $10 Quick Member
Admission is free for Fairfield University students; ticket required.
For tickets, visit Thomas Chatterton Williams and the Summer of Our Discontent.
