Self-expression and communication through writing is an invaluable skill in today’s fast-paced, digitally interconnected world. Pen to Purpose, created by Professor Efrat Friedman, demonstrates the real-life application of strong writing skills. The series consists of visits from a wide range of published professionals who engage in interview-style discussions with Professor Friedman. The interviews, open to NSU students and the wider community, focus on how each published work enriched or changed the course of the respective writer’s career. Discussions are followed by a Q&A with the audience.
2023
- Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with Cristina GarcíaRecorded January 24, 2023
A conversation with Cristina García, author of Here in Berlin.
Cristina García is the 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. - Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with Debby ApplegateRecorded February 14, 2023
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. - Leading with Care in a Tough World: Beyond Servant Leadership with Bob DeKoch and Phillip G. ClampittRecorded March 23, 2023
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. - Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with Michael FrankRecorded April 22, 2023
During this Pen to Purpose, join us 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.
Sponsored by the Soref JCC. - Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with Jeanine CumminsRecorded April 27, 2023
Jeanine Cummins is the author of the bestselling memoir A Rip in Heaven, and the novels The Outside Boy and The Crooked Branch. Her fourth book, American Dirt, was an Oprah’s Book Club and a Barnes & Noble book Club selection. It has been translated into 34 languages and has sold more than two million copies worldwide. She lives in New York with her husband and two children.
Sponsored by Peter and Fran Woolf.
2022
- Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with Jai ChakrabartiRecorded January 18, 2022
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. - Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with David Weill, MDRecorded February 23, 2022
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. - Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with Jean Hanff KorelitzRecorded March 29, 2022
A conversation with Jean Hanff Korelitz, the New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Plot and 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. - Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with Malcolm MitchellRecorded April 11, 2022
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. - Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with Neal BascombRecorded October 20, 2022
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 include: Faster and its materialization into an action-packed adventure, Bascomb’s literary journey, and the intersectionality of journalism, non-fiction, and fiction. - Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with Jen MaxfieldA conversation with Jen Maxfield, author of 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. - Cultivating Writing as a Brand of Professionalism with David SipressRecorded November 29, 2022
A conversation with David Sipress, author of What’s So Funny, A Cartoonist’s Memoir.
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.