“Creative Minds” brings leaders, experts and pioneers in a wide range of fields to share their wisdom in open, community-wide forums in Savannah.
The third season of this annual speaker series, which runs throughout the 2007-2008 school year, is designed to stimulate dialogue and spark debate about important issues that affect us all. This year promises to be the strongest line-up to date, featuring rare local appearances by critically-acclaimed author E.L. Doctorow and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee.
All Creative Minds events will be held in Jelks Auditorium at Savannah Country Day School, located at 824 Stillwood Drive, in Savannah, Georgia.
Individual tickets are $8 advance purchase, or $10 at the door ($5 for students and seniors and military).
$35 Series Package. Includes admission to all five 2007-08 lectures.
Due to the possibility of sell out events, seats not occupied by 6:25 p.m. will be released to a waiting list.
For additional information about the Creative Minds series, please call 912-961-8828.
ALEXANDRA ROBBINS
“The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids”
Monday, October 1, 2007
6:30 p.m.
$8 advance purchase, $10 at the door, $5 for students, seniors and military
Worried about the intense pressures on students to succeed and the skyrocketing stress of the college and private school admissions processes, New York Times bestselling author Alexandra Robbins returned to her high school on the anniversary of her 10-year reunion. For more than a year, she followed nine high school students.
The result of her insightful, incisive investigation is The Overachievers: The Secret Life of Driven Kids, a book suggests that high schools should limit AP courses, colleges should eliminate SAT scores as part of the admissions process, and that parents should reduce the pressure on overachieving teens. In her lecture, Robbins will discuss her findings and offer solutions to help alleviate the pressure on high-achieving children.
“The Overachievers is part soap opera, part social treatise. Robbins gets the big picture right.”
— The New York Times Book Review
E.L. DOCTOROW
“Reading from The March”
Monday, November 5, 2007
6:30 p.m.
$8 advance purchase, $10 at the door, $5 for students, seniors and military
One of America’s most revered and beloved authors, E.L. Doctorow is perhaps best known for novels that blend history and social criticism like Billy Bathgate, Ragtime and World’s Fair. His Civil War novel, The March, is a National Book Critics Circle Award winner and PEN/Faulkner Award recipient which examines General William Tecumseh Sherman’s 1864 march through Georgia and the Carolinas from a variety of perspectives.
In a rare Savannah appearance, Doctorow will read key passages from The March and will answer questions from the audience.
“Rarely does one come across accounts of the Civil War as level-headed, generous and well-intentioned as E.L. Doctorow’s challenging new novel, The March.”
–The Washington Post
EDWARD ALBEE
“An Evening with Edward Albee”
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
6:30 p.m.
$8 advance purchase, $10 at the door, $5 for students, seniors and military
Edward Albee burst onto the American theatrical scene in the late 1950s with a variety of plays that detailed the agonies and disillusionment of that decade and the transition from the placid Eisenhower years to the turbulent 1960s. Albee’s intensely modern, often controversial plays have startled critics and audiences alike ever since, changing the landscape of American drama. He recently earned a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement and is widely recognized as America’s greatest living playwright. The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and creative force behind such important works as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Three Tall Women and A Delicate Balance will discuss highlights from his literary career, followed by a question-and-answer session.
“This elder statesman of the American theater is in prolific form.”
— Village Voice
REZA ASLAN
“The Future of Islam: Toward the Islamic Reformation”
Monday, March 3, 2008
6:30 p.m.
$8 advance purchase, $10 at the door, $5 for students, seniors and military
Reza Aslan, an internationally-acclaimed writer and scholar of world religions, serves as a regular commentator for NPR’s Marketplace and as a Middle East analyst for CBS News. His first book, No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, has been translated into half a dozen languages, was short-listed for The Guardian (UK) First Book Award, and nominated for a PEN USA Award for Research Non-Fiction. In his discussion, Aslan will explore the future of Islam in an ever-changing world.
“Wise and passionate. An incisive, scholarly primer in Muslim history and an engaging personal exploration.”
–The New York Times Book Review
JON MEACHAM
“Franklin and Winston: Leadership Lessons for Today”
Monday, April 7, 2008
6:30 p.m.
$8 advance purchase, $10 at the door, $5 for students, seniors and military
As the managing editor of Newsweek, Jon Meacham supervises the magazine’s coverage of politics, international affairs and breaking news. Meacham is also an accomplished writer and author of Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship, a New York Times bestseller that chronicles the wartime relationship Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. In his discussion, Meacham will focus on how these two world leaders offer critical lessons in leadership that are more important now than ever.
“Meacham is an excellent story-teller, with a fine talent for thumbnail sketches of people and scenes.”
— Washington Monthly
Savannah Country Day School is a pre-k through twelve independent school that seeks to prepare students of academic and personal promise to meet with confidence, imagination, and integrity the challenges of college and of life. In partnership with supportive families, we strive to cultivate in each student the desire and the discipline to grow wise, to lead lives of personal honor, to appreciate beauty, to pursue physical well being, and to serve others with a generous and compassionate spirit. For more information about Savannah Country Day School, its mission, and its programs, please visit www.savcds.org.
Savannah Country Day School· 824 Stillwood Drive · Savannah GA 31419 (912) 861-8800 · www.savcds.org