Julie Lythcott-Haims Returns to Parker to Speak on New Memoir

The Parker community was very fortunate to welcome New York Times bestselling author Julie Lythcott-Haims as she returned to Parker to participate in the Nightviews Speaker Series. The community first met Lythcott-Haims last year in her capacity as the 19th annual Francine C. Rosenberg Memorial Lecturer. During the initial lecture, she drew upon her experiences as Dean of Freshmen at Stanford University and as a mother, her energy, her humor and her emotional anecdotes to give advice to parents on how to avoid the “overparenting trap.”

 

During this visit, Lythcott-Haims read from and spoke about Real American: A Memoir. This memoir is a hard-hitting book of prose featuring her recollections of growing up as a biracial woman in America and how these memories affected her sense of self. The New York Times describes the memoir as having “lyricism that hums with frustration and sadness,” and those in the audience got to see this firsthand as Lythcott-Haims read selections that, at times, rang with an angry passion or, at other times, brought her to tears.

 

However, before Lythcott-Haims took the stage, she created a very special moment for the Parker community when she asked Joryin “Jory” Iman Pender ’20 to take the stage. Pender then read her poem, “God and the Devil’s Kryptonite” to a rapt audience. Finally, as a way to thank Pender, Lythcott-Haims gave her an autographed copy of her book and an honorarium to support her art moving forward.

 

Lythcott-Haims’ poetic prose and strong, emotionally evocative presentation swept the audience along on her journey of self-discovery and acceptance.

Click here for photos from this visit. 

 

Parker’s Nightviews Speaker Series provides a public forum for conversation on world perspectives featuring talks on current issues in education, art, society, politics, psychology and science. Throughout the years, thought leaders from across the nation, as well as members of Parker’s faculty and administration, have delivered lectures in this series.