[N.B. This page is presented purely for archival purposes. The Conference was held June 11 – 13, 2015.]
Experience what will no doubt be the biggest Thornton Wilder gathering this year, coming June 11-13, 2015 to Newport, Rhode Island! The conference will feature more than 20 presentations, round table conversations, panel discussions, readings, and social events featuring leading academics, practitioners, and professionals from countries including France, China, Iran, Italy, Switzerland, and the United States. Join us for this exciting study of Thornton Wilder and his works!
Newport, Rhode Island, is a city rich in its associations with Wilder, making it an ideal location for the Second International Thornton Wilder Conference. Wilder first came to Newport as a member of the first Coast Artillery Corps of the National Army, stationed at Fort Adams on Narragansett Bay, during the final months of World War I. The charms of Newport drew him back during the summer of 1922 after his first year of teaching at The Lawrenceville School. He lived at the YMCA and tutored children of Newport families to earn living expenses, and he worked on his first novel, The Cabala; this experience became the basis for his last and most autobiographical novel, Theophilus North. Wilder returned to Newport many times during the rest of his life, often writing parts of plays or novels––he completed The Bridge of San Luis Rey there in 1927––and working on his non-fiction while staying in such still-famous hotels as the Castle Hill Inn and The Viking. Newport thus stands as perhaps first among equals of the many “spas out of season” he visited in his search for a place to write and is a particularly appropriate venue for the Second International Thornton Wilder Conference.
Sponsored by the Thornton Wilder Society