Writer Karen Russell, who spoke at Bowdoin Nov. 3, was in 2013 named a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant,” the youngest of the year’s 24 winners. She has been featured in The New Yorker’s “20 Under 40” list, and was chosen as one of Granta magazine’s Best Young American Novelists. In 2009, she received the “5 Under 35” award from the National Book Foundation. Her debut novel, Swamplandia!, was chosen by The New York Times as one of the “Ten Best Books of 2011” and was long-listed for The Orange Prize.

Bowdoin College’s Santagata Memorial Lecture Fund was established in 1982 by family and friends of Kenneth V. Santagata, Bowdoin class of 1973, to provide one lecture each semester from among the fields of arts, humanities, or social sciences. The lecturers are recognized authorities in their fields, who present new, novel, or non-conventional approaches to their subjects.