NORA SMITH
Staff writer
After assuming the interim — and now, permanent — role of Michael I. Rudell Director of Literary Arts, Stephine Hunt looks toward the future with hope to bring new experiences to Chautauquans and foster lifelong learning.
For most of the 2026 Summer Season, Hunt said she was facilitating the transition of having worked with former Michael I. Rudell Director of Literary Arts and inaugural writer-in-residence Kwame Alexander, who is now the inaugural distinguished fellow at the African American Heritage House. In 2025, the two worked together to select 2026 Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle books and plan events for the Chautauqua Writers’ Center.
“The summer was about finding my footing as the new director of Literary Arts while also working with a list of people and books that were a combination of our thinking and projects together, and it was an honor to continue that work even if it wasn’t with Kwame,” Hunt said.
She said throughout the 2026 Season, the department has introduced readers to numerous genres and ideas that they might not have read otherwise. For example, Hunt listed Tessa Hulls’ Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir and Laurie Halse Anderson’s young adult novel Rebellion 1776 as books may not initially reach for.
“Hopefully [Chautauquans] continue to learn new things,” Hunt said. “The pursuit of the CLSC is not only encountering books you wouldn’t otherwise, but that you are seeking that lifelong learning.”
Reflecting on the season, Hunt said she hopes Chautauquans will walk away having gained new knowledge, whether from Writers’ Center readings, workshops or CLSC selections and author presentations. Hunt said she hopes Chautauquans have had opportunities to learn about new topics, ideas and perspectives, and that they will continue to seek out and learn about what is unfamiliar to them in 2027 and beyond.
Hunt said she hopes to expand Literary Arts programming, “the celebration of literary arts as a whole here at Chautauqua as well as hopefully expanding our reach [in welcoming people in from off the grounds].”
