Author: Writing with Purpose

Admired and best-selling authors offer advice and discuss their latest books. Discover some examples of creativity as public service at our Writing with Purpose author panel with Sam Roberts, Are They Dead Yet: The Art of the Obit ; Jennifer Shahade, Thinking Sideways: How to Think Like a Chess Player and Win at Life; and Casey Sherman, The Killer and Frank Lloyd Wright: The True Story of Mass Murder in Paradise. Sam Roberts , a 50-year veteran of New York journalism, is an obituaries reporter and formerly the Urban Affairs correspondent at The New York Times . He hosts The New York Times Close Up, which he inaugurated in 1992, and the podcasts Only in New York , anthologized in a book of the same name, and The Caucus . He is the author of A History of New York in 27 Buildings , A History of New York in 101 Objects , and Grand Central: How a Train Station Transformed America , among others. He has written for The New York Times Magazine , The New Republic , New York , Vanity Fair , and Foreign Affairs . A history adviser to Federal Hall, he lives in New York with his wife and two sons. Jennifer Shahade is a three-time National Chess Champion, PokerStars Ambassador and author. A two-time Global Poker Award winner and chess Olympic medalist, Shahade was the first female to win the US Junior Open, and claimed two U.S. Women’s Championship titles. She’s the author of many books, including Chess Bitch/Chess Queens , Play Like a Champion and Thinking Sideways: How To Think Like a Chess Player and Win at Life. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, and the Financial Times. Shahade is known for making mind sports more inclusive, and for big moves to instigate more gender equality in chess. She has won poker tournaments all over the World, from Prague to London to Las Vegas. Shahade is a board member at the World Chess Hall of Fame. Casey Sherman is a New York Times Bestselling Author of 13 books including The Finest Hours (now a major motion picture starring Casey Affleck & Chris Pine), Boston Strong (the basis for the film Patriots Day starring Mark Wahlberg), Animal, and Hunting Whitey . Sherman is a contributing writer for Time , Esquire , The Washington Post , The Boston Herald, and Boston Magazine and has appeared as a guest analyst on more than 100 television news programs. Hosted by Ilana Levine , actress and podcaster, Little Known Facts with Ilana Levine. May 27, 2026 – August 26, 2026 Wednesdays, 12:30pm-1:45pm May 27: Writers Read hosted by Ed McCann June 3: Memoir with writers Jeffrey Banks, Stefan Merrill Block, and Ian Jarvis June 10: Seriously Funny with writers Jenny Hagel and Maeve Dunigan June 17: Masters of Suspense with writers Alison Gaylin, Ed Lin, and Kimberly McCreight June 24: Summer Picks with writers Hilary Davidson, Connor Martin, and Camille Perri July 8: Frankie Grande July 15: Debut Novels with writers David Baerwald, Meg Charlton, Yosha Gunasekera, and Hafeez Lakhani July 22: Endless Summer with authors Cara Bastone, Amy Ewing, Jennifer O'Brien, and Edward Schmit. July 29: Speculative Fiction with writers Clarence A. Haynes, Isabel J. Kim, and Leila Siddiqui August 5: Fandom with writers Zoraida Córdova, Maria Hoey, Alex Segura, and Dan Watters August 12: Writing with Purpose with writers Sam Roberts, Jennifer Shahade, and Casey Sherman August 19: The Making of an Anthology featuring Kathy Curto, Terri Linton, Christopher L. Vaughan, and Domenica Ruta August 26: Historical Fiction with writers Simon Elegant, Julie Gerstenblatt, and Carson Markland