STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Clara Spera, the granddaughter of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, will pay tribute to her grandmother at the seventh annual Conversations with Exceptional Women in late August.
Ginsburg was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the 2020 Conversations before the coronavirus pandemic forced its cancellation.
Spear, a lawyer-activist working on behalf of women’s reproductive rights, will reminisce about her grandmother and accept the John and Abigail Adams Award for her grandmother. The award, offered by The Alturas Institute, recognizes work advancing women’s rights and equal protection of the law.
Conversations with Exceptional Women will be held Aug. 31-Sept. 1 at the Church of the Bigwood in Ketchum.
Tickets are on sale at https://www.alturasinstitute.com
“Our gifted speakers will address, among other subjects, an issue of transcendent importance to women, our nation and American democracy: How can women summon the courage to stand up, speak out and do the right thing in order to make a difference in their lives and the life of the nation,” said David Adler, founder of The Alturas Institute and Conversations with Exceptional Women.
Other speakers include:
Annette Gordon-Reed, a Harvard law Professor and Pulitzer Prize recipient, will discuss her new work, “Juneteenth,” which recounts the challenges African-Americans have faced from Reconstruction through Jim Crow and beyond.
Elizabeth Becker, a Pulitzer Prize winner who authored “You Don’t Belong Here,’ which recounts the challenges of three female journalists attempting to report on the Vietnam War.
Jody Williams, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who persuaded the international community to ban landmines.
Dorothy Wickenden, executive editor of The New Yorker Magazine and author of “The Antagonists,” about women who fought for abolition and the civil rights of women.
Judy Batalion, author of the new book, “The Light of Days,” which tells the previously untold story of women who fought against Hitler in Poland.
Dr. Lara Brown, author of several books on the American Presidency, including “Amateur Hour: Presidential Character and the Question of Leadership.” Her husband Major Garrett, a CBS News Chief White House correspondent will moderate some of the conference sessions.
Dr. Caroline Heldman, national co-chair of #ERA Now and author of “Madame President?”
Toni L. Coleman Carter, author of “When Trouble Finds You,” about overcoming child abuse.
Cherie Buckner-Webb, Idaho’s first elected African-American state legislator.
Naomi McDougall-Jones, author of “The Wrong Kind of Women: Inside Our Revolution to Dismantle the Gods of Hollywood.”
A few more speakers will be added in coming days, said Adler.
“The Alturas Institute is very proud of the lineup of incredible speakers that we’ve assembled to consider some of the vital and pressing issues confronting America,” he added.