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Empathy is Your Writing's Superpower - R. Eric Thomas Event

by Messina

Lecture Academic Events All Class Years Welcome Commuter Friendly Free Events Humanities & Languages Messina Events

Thu, Oct 23, 2025

6 PM – 7 PM EDT (GMT-4)

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As part of this year’s Writers at Work Series, please join screenwriter, playwright, and national bestselling author R. Eric Thomas for an interactive talk about the craft of writing. He’ll use examples from his non-fiction writing, screenwriting, and his popular nationally syndicated advice column to talk about building characters, framing narrative non-fiction perspectives, and thinking about your readership.

Sponsored by Messina, The Center for the Humanities, Education for Life, and the Writing Department
6pm, 4th Floor Program Room

R. Eric Thomas (he/him) is a screenwriter, playwright, and national bestselling author. He is also the Eric of Asking Eric, the popular nationally syndicated daily advice column found in over 100 newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. He wrote on the Peabody Award-winning series Dickinson (AppleTV+) and Better Things (FX) and is currently developing his own projects for film and TV. His memoir, Here for It, or How to Save Your Soul in America, which Lin-Manuel Miranda hailed as “pop culture-obsessed, David Sedaris-level laugh-out-loud funny”, was featured on Today as a Read With Jenna club pick. His YA novel debut, Kings of B’more, was named a 2023 Stonewall Honor book by the American Library Association. Other books include Reclaiming Her Time: The Power of Maxine Waters, and Congratulations, the Best Is Over!, an instant USA Today bestseller. For four years, he wrote “Eric Reads the News” a daily humor column covering pop culture and politics on ELLE.com, garnering millions of devoted readers. For his playwriting, Eric has received the Barrymore Award, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Dramatist Guild Lanford Wilson Award. Eric is also the long-running host of The Moth StorySlams in Philadelphia, and has been heard multiple times on The Moth Radio Hour, NPR’s Fresh Air, All Things Considered, Snap Judgement and Pop Culture Happy Hour. Website: rericthomas.com