Susie Anderson
Staff Writer
For the avid readers of Chautauqua, nine weeks of Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle selections is not enough. Thankfully, CLSC Unbound programming — which launched with a webinar held in March 2025 — adds books to the historic booklist and introduces Chautauquans to authors outside of the regular summer season.
“CLSC Unbound expands our reach and interactions with literature beyond the gates and beyond the season. … We will discuss the books in the summer of the season the book is selected,” said Stephine Hunt, managing director of literary arts.
At 12:15 p.m. today in the Ballroom of the Literary Arts Center at Alumni Hall, Chautauquans will view highlights from the first CLSC Unbound webinar, which focused on Victoria Christopher Murray’s Harlem Rhapshody and Marie Benedict’s The Queens of Crime. The discussion between the two authors in March was moderated by Hunt and Michael I. Rudell Artistic Director of Literary Arts and Innaugural Writer-in-Residence Kwame Alexander. At the watch party, the book discussion will be hosted by community members Stuart Blerch and Mary Weiser.
The inaugural CLSC Unbound webinar featured both Murrary and Benedict, two longtime friends and co-authors, in discussion about their respective CLSC Unbound selections.
Murray is a New York Times bestselling author of over 30 novels and the NAACP Image Award Winner for Outstanding Literary Work for her novel Stand Your Ground. Harlem Rhapsody highlights the woman at the epicenter of the creation of the Harlem Renaissance: Jessie Redmon Fauset. The story investigates and reveals the history of the Harlem Renaissance with a focus on its unsung hero.
Murray and Marie Benedict co-authored The Personal Librarian, a Good Morning America Book Club Pick, and The First Ladies, Target’s 2023 Book of the Year.
Benedict is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Mitford Affair, Her Hidden Genius, The Mystery of Mrs. Christie and The Only Woman in the Room, among others. The Queens of Crime follows Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers in 1930s London, blending fiction, mystery and true crime into a captivating homage to the Golden Age of detective fiction.
The two are no strangers to Chautauqua, either. Murray was a guest judge on the jury for the 2024 Chautauqua Prize, and last summer she and Benedict co-presented their co-authored book The First Ladies — the Week One selection for the CLSC — in the Hall of Philosophy.
In a conversation centered around historical fiction, women in fiction and their 2025 CLSC collections, the watch party of the webinar and subsequent discussion promises an engaging opportunity for Chautauquans who attended the webinar in March and those approaching the presentation for the first time.
“They’re incredible, dynamic women and good friends, so it’s really fun to hear them talk together,” Hunt said.
