Dear Tulane Community:
It's time to trade the beads, floats, and coconuts for page-turners, thought leaders, and innovative ideas. Next week is the fourth annual New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University, our Mardi Gras for the Mind!
Under the exceptional leadership of festival co-chairs Walter Isaacson and Cheryl Landrieu, Book Fest has quickly grown into a premier cultural event, drawing globally recognized authors, journalists, and public figures to engage with readers of all ages and backgrounds. The festival kicks off this year on Thursday, March 27 with an Opening Night session led by our partners at The Atlantic. Over the next two days, the festival will also showcase many of Tulane's own faculty and staff as they share the stage with national marquee names.
The Book Fest schedule is a feast of knowledge that literally has something for everyone. You'll find conversations with Pulitzer Prize-winning authors, Tony and Grammy Award-winning artists, James Beard Award-winning chefs, and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient.
Book Fest is once again aligning its dates with New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, a celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship which runs March 24-29. This year, NOEW will debut Tulane Innovation Day on Wednesday, March 26 at the Marshall Family Commons in partnership with the Tulane Innovation Institute, the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking, and the A.B. Freeman School of Business. I'm delighted to be leading a keynote discussion at noon with Brett A. Hurt, an entrepreneur, investor, author — and proud Tulane parent — who has helped businesses worldwide harness the power of data as the CEO and co-founder of data.world.
I'm also excited to make an appearance at Book Fest on Saturday, March 29 at noon on the Navy ROTC Building stage, interviewing former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy. We'll be discussing his book, Together: The Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World. Dr. Murthy's book is a tour de force that tackles one of the biggest issues we currently face as a society: an epidemic of loneliness.
Renowned researchers worldwide have charted the costs of social isolation, including Tulane experts like Dr. Lu Qi, who has pinpointed the compounding effects of loneliness on health outcomes for people struggling with diabetes and obesity. As I recently discussed in a LinkedIn piece, I believe Tulane and New Orleans offer valuable lessons in how to combat social isolation. As a university and as a city, we share a relational culture that prioritizes building community through personal connections.
I look forward to an engaging conversation with Dr. Murthy about how loneliness has become so pervasive in our society — and what actions we can take, individually and collectively, to turn the tide. Speaking from experience, I can tell you that attending our Mardi Gras for the Mind is an excellent first step.
