Please join us for an enriching conversation on the cultural weight of paper as Arion welcomes author Nicholson Baker as the first Kirkpatrick Speaker of 2024.

Celebrated novelist and culture critic Nicholson Baker will deliver a spirited talk titled “The Weight of Paper” exploring the cultural and physical gravity of the paper book in a digital century. Baker’s wide-ranging discussion will investigate the evolving science of reading on paper vs. pixels, the challenge of maintaining manuscript collections, and history’s need for documentation that does not rely on electricity. The talk will take inspiration from Baker’s upcoming book Finding a Likeness: How I Got Somewhat Better at Art to celebrate how both writing and drawing are ways of embracing the three-dimensional world.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m., with drinks and light bites to follow.

The Kirkpatrick Speaker Series is made possible by the generous support of Taylor Kirkpatrick.