By Darryl Gangloff

On Feb. 18, Hotchkiss welcomed New York Times bestselling author Lauren Groff for the Nalen Lecture, an annual celebration of Daily Themes in English 250. “Narrative is what makes us human,” she told the crowd of students in Walker Auditorium. “It allows us to connect to other people.”

The Nalen Lecture represents the annual celebration of the Daily Themes essay unit in English 250. All students attended this year’s lecture due to their high engagement with Groff's work over the past two years. Upper mids and seniors read Groff's novel Matrix ahead of English 350 as their summer reading. Preps and lower mids read her essays and stories in preparation for her visit.

Groff is the author of The Monsters of Templeton, Arcadia, Fates and Furies, Matrix, and The Vaster Wilds, and the short story collections Delicate Edible Birds and Florida. Her honors include The Story Prize, the ABA Indies’ Choice Award, France’s Grand Prix de l’Héroïne, and the Joyce Carol Oates Prize. She has been a finalist for the National Book Award three times. She was named to Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People list in 2024. She lives in Gainesville, FL, where she and her husband own the independent bookstore The Lynx.

Katie Fleishman, head of the English Department, opened the program. She described the thrill of encountering a sentence on the first page of Fates and Furies that inspired her. “The lusciousness of that description hooked me, and I’ve been reading everything of hers I could get my hands on ever since. I hope you have all found lines to fall in love with in her work this year as well.”

William Becker ’26 and Avery Hines-Mudry ’27, who had both written comparative essays on Groff's work for their English classes, introduced Groff and shared how her writing shaped their own thinking in and beyond the classroom. William described his first experience with Matrix and the way it stayed with him long after summer reading ended. “Matrix was my introduction to Groff’s writing,” he said, “and I was immediately struck by the liveliness and detail she gave to historical fiction.”

Avery highlighted the questions Matrix raises about power and agency. “Matrix explores themes of matriarchal rule, female agency, ambition, and the connection between the human and natural worlds,” she said, noting how the novel helped her think about possibility and resilience.

When Groff took the stage, she thanked students for reading with such care and energy. “I am so delighted to be here,” she said, adding how meaningful it was to join a community gathered for books and ideas. She reflected on what brings people together in an auditorium on a winter evening. “We are here celebrating our love of literature, a love of the life of the mind.”

Groff’s remarks returned again and again to the connective power of stories, and how reading and writing can help you make meaning, build empathy, and feel less alone. “Art is the distillation of everything that is good in humanity. Art is our generosity, our joy and beauty, our gentleness, our attention, our expertise, our craft, our love of materials, our fleeting gods, our urge to communicate with other souls through time, even those that are long dead, even those who have yet to be born.”

The event concluded with a lively Q&A with students.

The Nalen Writing Program was established by Skip Nalen ’48, P’79, GP'13,’15 as a gift to the School in appreciation of the writing instruction generations of graduates have received at Hotchkiss.