Simon Winchester

EAST LIVERPOOL – Acclaimed author, journalist and historian Simon Winchester will open the Northwest Ordinance Lecture Series on Sept. 17 as its featured keynote speaker.

Sponsored by the East Liverpool Partnership for Revitalization and the Friends of the Carnegie Public Library, the Northwest Ordinance Lecture Series is a free, four-part public program. Advance registration is required. Participants will receive a commemorative passport that serves as both the program guide and admission ticket for all lectures. Passports will be available at the Carnegie Public Library beginning in August; the distribution date will be announced soon.

A bestselling author of more than 30 books, Winchester is widely recognized for works such as The Professor and the Madman, The Men Who United the States, The Map That Changed the World, and Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World. Renowned for making complex historical subjects interesting and accessible, he draws on decades of experience as both a foreign correspondent and historian. His opening lecture will examine the significance of the Northwest Ordinance and its influence on the development of the United States, setting the stage for the remainder of the series.

Following Winchester’s keynote, the series will explore a range of topics related to the Northwest Ordinance and the settlement of the Northwest Territory, including the work of the surveyors and the Point of Beginning, the Ordinance’s impact on Indigenous peoples, and everyday life in the Ohio Country.

The lecture series is coordinated by Susan Weaver and made possible through a grant from the Ohio History Connection.