Plus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on the power of literature
| | March 13, 2025 | | | Our 2025 Speaker Lineup Keeps Growing
| | 300+ speakers. 100+ sessions. One extraordinary gathering. The Aspen Ideas Festival is more than an event — it’s an experience that will leave you energized, informed, and equipped to turn big ideas into meaningful action.
We’re thrilled to give you another peek at our growing speaker lineup. Don’t miss your chance to hear from these extraordinary thinkers and doers — Festival 1 (June 25 - 28) is almost sold out, and Festival 2 (June 28 - July 1) is going fast. Ambassador Susan Rice on American leadership in the international arena and the security challenges we face. The New York Times columnist, bestselling author and commentator on “PBS News Hour” David Brooks on the good life after 60. Former acting solicitor general Neal Katyal on this Supreme Court term and the Court's institutional challenges. Director of the White House National Economic Council Kevin Hassett in conversation with banking executive and former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Bob Rubin. Iconoclastic philosopher Agnes Callard on Socrates and life’s most important questions. MSNBC anchor Jonathan Capehart on his new book, “Yet Here I Am: Lessons from a Black Man’s Search for Home.” Award-winning founder of On Being, National Humanities Medalist, and New York Times bestselling author Krista Tippett on how to build muscular hope. Mariko Silver, president and CEO of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, on the role of arts in building community.
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| | | | | The 2025 Festival Book Club: March Pick
| | We’re counting down to June by reading thought-provoking books by some of the brilliant minds speaking at this year’s Festival. Each month, we’ll highlight a book by one of our speakers, giving attendees the opportunity to dive into transformative ideas before seeing the authors in person on our stages.
Our March pick is “Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life” by philosopher Agnes Callard. Provocative and deeply thoughtful, this book reimagines the Socratic method as a dynamic force for modern life. Callard challenges us to embrace questioning as a communal process and lifelong pursuit, touching on love, politics, and even death — questions that are as hard to ask as they are to answer. With clever insight and engaging prose, “Open Socrates” is an invitation to rethink how we engage with ideas, each other, and the world.
| | | Conversations We Find Hard to Have
| | Since exploding onto the literary scene twenty years ago, Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has brought us dazzling stories about characters seeking their places in the world — as well as pointed cultural critiques about feminism, maternal health, and racism. Adichie calls literature the “last frontier” in a polarized country, and she’s a strong believer in free speech and representing the truth of life. For the first time in a dozen years, Adichie has published a new novel. Her highly-anticipated book “Dream Count” just came out on March 4th. Several months ago, she went onstage for the closing session of the 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival. She was joined by Kelly Corrigan, host of the podcast “Kelly Corrigan Wonders,” who talked with Adichie about life, loss and America. Listen
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