W&L Hosts 20th Annual Tom Wolfe Weekend The weekend’s seminar will feature Jayne Anne Phillips discussing her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “Night Watch.”

By Emily Innes
March 20, 2025

Washington and Lee University will host its 20th annual Tom Wolfe Weekend April 11-12. The weekend’s seminar will feature Jayne Anne Phillips, author of “Night Watch,” which received the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Registration is required for Friday evening’s reception and dinner and Saturday’s luncheon; it can be accessed online here. The keynote address, lectures and panel discussion are free and open to the public.

Phillips will present the keynote address at 4 p.m. on April 11 in the University Chapel, followed by a Q&A session and book signing. The talk is free and open to the public and will be livestreamed. Please contact lifelong@wlu.edu to request access to the livestream.

In “Night Watch,” Phillips paints a portrait of endurance and survival in the aftermath of war. The novel follows 12-year-old ConaLee and her mother, Eliza, who has not spoken in over a year, as they find themselves delivered to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, uprooted from their family, neighbors and beloved mountain home. As the two try to reclaim their lives and become swept up in the life of the asylum — with ConaLee posing as her mother’s maid while Eliza is being treated — readers learn more about the family’s experience during the war and how they plan to move forward. “Night Watch” is an intimate and enthralling chronicle of family endurance against all odds, inviting readers to consider the trauma war inflicts on families.

“Night Watch,” Phillips’ sixth novel, was longlisted for the National Book Award in fiction and named to the New Yorker’s “Best Books of 2023.”  Phillips is a member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and is the recipient of Guggenheim, National Endowment for the Arts, Howard, Bunting Institute and Rockefeller Foundation fellowships.

Joining Phillips in the programming on April 12 are W&L faculty members Sascha Goluboff, professor of cultural anthropology and director of community-based learning, and Barton Myers, professor of history. Goluboff’s research explores the anthropology of emotion in geographic and historic context and Myers is a recognized author whose research interests include the American Civil War and war and society. Saturday’s programming will be in Stackhouse Theater in Elrod Commons.

Learn more about the programming and view the schedule of events here.

The Tom Wolfe Weekend is sponsored by the W&L Class of 1951.