Adrienne Brodeur is the author of the novel Little Monsters and the memoir, Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover and Me, which was described by The New York Times Book Review as: “Exquisite and harrowing. . . . The book is so gorgeously written and deeply insightful, and with a line of narrative tension that never slacks, from the first page to the last, that it’s one you’ll likely read in a single, delicious sitting.” Published in October 2019 by HMH Books, Wild Game’s film rights were bought by Chernin Entertainment with Nick Hornby attached to adapt and Deniz Gamze Ergüven, the director of Mustang, attached to direct.

Adrienne has spent the past two decades of her professional life in the literary world, discovering voices, cultivating talent, and working to amplify underrepresented writers. Her publishing career began with founding the fiction magazine, Zoetrope: All-Story, with filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, where she served as editor-in-chief from 1996-2002. The magazine has won the prestigious National Magazine Award for best fiction four times. In 2005, she became an editor at Harcourt (later, HMH Books), where she acquired and edited literary fiction and memoir. Adrienne left publishing in 2013 to become Creative Director — and later Executive Director — of Aspen Words, a literary arts nonprofit and program of the Aspen Institute. In 2017, she launched the Aspen Words Literary Prize, a $35,000 annual award for an influential work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture.

Adrienne splits her time between Cambridge and Cape Cod, where she lives with her husband and children. 

Arnold Lecture Series
Sponsored by the Friends of the Wellesley Free Libraries

This program is annually held in honor of Margaret J. "Peg" Arnold.  Ms. Arnold was a resident of Wellesley for nearly 70 years.  She moved to Wellesley with her parents in 1924, graduated from Syracuse University, and earned her Library Science degree at Simmons College. She became the Director and Head Librarian for the Wellesley Free Library in 1950 and served for 31 years. Ms. Arnold was a member of town meeting, and a director of the Wellesley Human Relations Service.  She adored music and played oboe in the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra and the Wellesley College Orchestra. During her tenure as Head Librarian, Ms. Arnold guided the library from minimal quarters in Town Hall to its current location across Washington Street. The Friends of the Wellesley Free Libraries was established under her leadership in 1951. Upon Ms. Arnold’s retirement in 1981, the Friends established the Annual Arnold Lecture in her honor.

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