The previously announced Conant Lecturer for this year, actress Mia Farrow, has had to cancel several fall appearances due to unforeseen circumstances. Tickets previously purchased for Mia Farrow may be used for admission to Erica Jong’s presentation.

Few novelists have had greater social impact or fueled more debates than Erica Jong. From her 1973 blockbuster novel, Fear of Flying, to several worldwide bestsellers, her adventurous explorations of female emotion and empowerment have been credited with unlocking “a new female spirit.”

As an undergraduate studying literature at Barnard College, Jong was frustrated by the lack of female authors in her curriculum. “We’d had about 6,000 years of stories from a man’s point of view,” says Jong. “What I sought to do was to slice open a woman’s head and show everything that was happening inside.”

Published in 1973 at the heart of a period of self-exploration and sexual liberation, Fear of Flying caused a national sensation. The book’s heroine, Isadora Wing, transgressed sexual norms and became an inspiration for a whole generation of women. An astounding three million copies of Fear of Flying were sold in just three months. More than 20 million copies have now been sold worldwide, translated into 35 languages. Jong has written seven other novels (including How to Save Your Own Life and Fanny), six award winning volumes of poetry, a mid-life memoir (Fear of Fifty), a biography as well as several other works (including What Do Women Want: Reflections on a Century of Change). Her most recent novel, Sappho’s Leap, tells the story of Sappho, the greatest lyric poet of ancient Greece, whose life is largely a mystery. Hailed as “enormously entertaining and wisely provocative” by Booklist, Sappho’s Leap has created a new generation of Jong fans.

Jong is a board member of the Woodhull Institute, dedicated to creating strong women leaders. She has taught literature and writing at universities nationwide and in 1998 was honored with the United Nations Award for Excellence in Literature. She is currently completing a book on creativity and writing that will be published in 2005.

The Doris Conant Lecture on Women & Culture is named in honor of longtime Festival supporter Doris Conant in recognition of a generous gift to the CHF by the Conant Family Foundation.

Additional Presenters Mia Farrow

Recommended Programs RICHARD J. FRANKE LECTURE IN ECONOMIC HISTORY: Richard Florida—The Flight of the Creative Class MAE C. JEMISON: Without Boundaries