A Conversation with Award-Winning Bestselling Novelist Amor Towles
- March 15, 2026, 2 p.m.
- DOROTHY DICKSON DARTE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
- Free and Open to the Public (Registration Required)
Amor Towles’s award-winning novels have collectively sold more than eight million copies and have been translated into more than forty languages.
Dr. David Hicks, director of the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Wilkes University, will moderate a conversation with Towles in the newly renovated Darling Theatre of the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center for the Performing Arts. A book signing in the lobby of the Darte Center will follow the main presentation. Books will be available for purchase the day of the event.
Towles’s newest book, Table for Two (2024), was an immediate bestseller and called “a winner” by the New York Times. Towles’s first novel, Rules of Civility (2011), was a New York Times bestseller and was named by the Wall Street Journal as one of the best books of 2011. A Gentleman in Moscow (2016), was named one of the best books of 2016 by numerous outlets, including the Washington Post and NPR.
Debuting at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, his third novel, The Lincoln Highway, was one of the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2021, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year, one of Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2021 and was #1 on Amazon’s list of the Best Books of the Year. It will be made into a movie adapted and directed by Christopher Storer for Warner Brothers.
David Hicks, PhD, a first-generation college student, earned his doctorate in American Literature at NYU and taught at Pace University in New York as well as Regis University in Denver, where he co-founded and co-directed the MFA in Creative Writing.
In his forties he shifted his work from academic to creative, first publishing short stories, then collecting and rearranging them as a novel-in-stories, White Plains, published by Conundrum Press (now Bower House Books) in 2017. White Plains was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award, Arapahoe Libraries 2018 “Village Read,” and Westword Magazine’s #1 book by Colorado authors. His children’s book, The Magic Ticket, was published in 2024 and his second novel, The Gospel According to Danny, was published 2025.
Attending the Rosenn Lecture Series
The Dorothy Dickson Darte Center is located at 239 South River Street in Wilkes-Barre. An extensive renovation to enhance building accessibility was recently completed, including handicap parking, handicap drop-off, an elevator and listening devices.
Attendees may park in the lot to the rear of the Henry Student Center, which can be accessed on South River and South Franklin Streets. For GPS purposes, please use 236 South River Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 map link to find the lot.
About the Rosenn Lecture Series
The Max Rosenn Lecture in Law and Humanities was established at Wilkes University in 1980 in recognition of Judge Rosenn’s exceptional contributions to public service.
Judge Max Rosenn’s long career as a public servant spanned many fields, including law, philanthropy, public welfare, health and religion. He made innumerable contributions to the enhancement of northeastern Pennsylvania, to state government, and to the federal judiciary. Following the Hurricane Agnes Disaster of 1972, he played a vital role in the rehabilitation of Greater Wilkes-Barre and its many neighboring communities as chairman of the Flood Recovery Task Force for Wyoming Valley.
The Honorable Judge Max Rosenn
After receiving an undergraduate degree from Cornell University and a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Judge Rosenn commenced his legal career. He interrupted that career to enter military service in World War II. After several years in the South Pacific, he returned to his wife and sons and resumed the practice of law. He entered state government in 1966 as secretary of public welfare for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As secretary, Judge Rosenn also served as a member of the cabinet of Governor William W. Scranton and in the cabinet of his successor, Raymond Shafer, and as chairman of the Governor’s Council for Human Services. Following his resignation as Secretary and resumption of the practice of law, he served as chairman of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and chairman of the Legislative Executive Task Force to Restructure Human Services for Pennsylvania. He also served as a member of the 1968 Governor’s Commission to Revise the Public Employee Laws of Pennsylvania. President Nixon appointed him to the United States Court of Appeals in 1970.
He and wife Tillie were lifetime residents of the Wyoming Valley, have two sons, Professor Keith and Dr. Daniel, and six grandchildren.
In recognition of his exceptional contributions and his warm relationship with them, Judge Rosenn’s former law clerks and former law firm Rosenn, Jenkins & Greenwald, with the assistance of his family and friends, established in 1980 the Max Rosenn Lecture Series in Law and Humanities.
Justice Bound: A Tribute to Max Rosenn
Judge Rosenn served on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals from 1970 until 2006. In that time, he had 71 law clerks who assisted him. This film was commissioned by them, in partnership with Wilkes University and the Rosenn family, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Rosenn Lecture Series.
Past Speakers
The Rosenn Lecture Series has brought speakers with expertise in diverse fields and interests, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bryan Stevenson, Anna Deavere Smith, Anthony Lewis, Cory Booker and Bob Woodward.
- Nicholas Kristof | Pultizer Prize-winning Journalist and Political Commentator | 2025
- Marie Yovanovitch | The former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine and New York Times Bestselling Author of Lessons from the Edge | 2024
- Jill Lepore | Award-winning Author & Historian, Journalist and Professor of History | 2023
- Jon Meacham | Presidential Historian and Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author | 2022
- Terry Gross | Award-winning host of NPR’s Fresh Air | 2021
- Bryan Stevenson | Attorney, human rights activist, executive director of the Equal Justice Intiative, and Author | 2019
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | All-time Leading Scorer in NBA history, New York Times best-selling author, Civil Rights Activist | 2018
- Anna Deavere Smith | Playwright, actor, and professor | 2017
- Ron Prosor | Abba Eban Chair of International Diplomacy at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC) | 2016
- Brian Greene | String Theorist | 2015
- Richard Lugar | Retired United States Senator | 2014
- Noah Feldman | Bemis Professor - Harvard University | 2013
- Cory Booker | Mayor - Newark, New Jersey | 2012
- Michelle Rhee | Founder and CEO of StudentsFIrst | 2011
- Greg Mortenson | Best-selling author and humanitarian | 2010
- Zanny Minton-Beddoes | Economics Editor, The Economist | 2009
- Richard Leakey | Paleoanthropologist | 2008
- Christopher Dillon Quinn | Award-winning documentary film director and John Bul Dau | one of The Lost Boys of Sudan | 2007
- Bob Woodward | Assistant Managing Editor of the Washington Post | 2006
- Irshad Manji | Award-winning journalist | 2005
- Amy Chua | Author, Yale Law School Professor | 2004
- Robin Wright | Author and Chief diplomatic correspondent | 2003
- Fareed Zakaria | Editor if Newsweek International | 2002
- Norman Mailer | Novelist, Biographer, and Historian | 2001
- David Halberstam | Author, Journalist, and Historian | 2000
- Abner J. Mikva | Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law and Senior Fellow, IGPA University of Illinois | 1999
- Morris S. Dees Jr. | Chief Trial Counsel, Southern Poverty Law Center | 1998
- Paul Simon | Retired United States Senator | 1997
- Honorable A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. | Chief Judge Emeritus, United States Court of Appeals | 1996
- Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ph.D. | Author, Historian | 1995
- Tom J. Farer, J.D. | Director, International Relations Program | 1994
- Leslie H. Gelb, Ph.D. | Author, Journalist, New York Times Columnist | 1993
- T. Berry Brazelton, M.D. | Author, Educator, Renowned Pediatrician | 1992
- John Paul Stevens | Justice, U.S. Supreme Court | 1991
- Ambler Moss | Dean, School of International Studies, University of Miami | 1990
- Nina Totenberg | Legal Affairs Correspondent | 1989
- Malcolm Toon | Former U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union | 1988
- Bettina Gregory | Senior Correspondent | 1987
- Henry Steele Commager | Historian, Professor of Law, Amherst College | 1986
- Richard Schifter | Former U.S. Ambassador | 1985
- Joseph J. Sisco | Former Undersecretary of State | 1984
- Edwin Newman | Correspondent, NBC News | 1983
- Anthony Lewis | Columnist, New York Times | 1982