Go Big Read Luncheon 2026
About the Event
The L&S Honors Program hosts an annual luncheon and Q&A with the author of the campus Go Big Read book. This year we are delighted to be joined by Eliot Stein, author of Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive. Thank you to the Go Big Read Program for funding this event.
Event Information
- Doors open at 11:45 AM. A buffet lunch will be available starting at 11:45 AM and throughout the event.
- Remarks from the author will begin around 12:00 PM, followed by Q&A. The author will offer a book signing starting around 12:50 PM.
- You are welcome to arrive and/or exit as your schedule allows. We encourage attendance that overlaps with the author’s remarks and Q&A as much as possible.
- You are welcome to attend even if you have not read the book. Yet, we encourage you to engage with the book as much as you can in advance.
- Pick up a copy in the lobby of Washburn Observatory (open 9am-4pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays)
- Physical copies as well as audiobook and e-book editions of Custodians of Wonder are available through the University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries and Madison Public Libraries.
- A limited number of copies will be available at the event.
- Learn more about the Go Big Read Program, this year’s book, and other Go Big Read events.
Registration
Registration is required. This event is intended for students, faculty, and staff currently engaged with L&S high-impact practice programs, including the L&S Honors Program.
Please complete the RSVP form by Tuesday, November 3. Reservations after November 3 will be subject to space availability.
Questions? Email the L&S Honors Program at honors@honors.ls.wisc.edu.
About the Author
Eliot Stein is a senior journalist and editor at the BBC. He has traveled the globe profiling remarkable people maintaining extraordinary cultural rites against all odds. From the last Incan bridge master who dangles precariously over a rushing river in Peru to weave a suspension bridge out of grass to a single family of alchemists in India who have guarded a centuries-old formula for a mysterious metal mirror believed to reveal your truest self, Eliot’s work examines what it means when the unique rites that have shaped us and the places we come from fade away. These are just some of the last custodians preserving age-old rites on the brink of disappearance against all odds. Let Eliot Stein introduce you to all of them.
Eliot Stein frequently speaks about the homogenization of culture, ancient knowledge, and the wisdom we can all learn from these once-upon-a-time rites. He has given talks at universities, on TV and radio segments, to corporations, and frequently appears on podcasts, including Rick Steves, Atlas Obscura, Frommer’s, and more. Also, he has spoken at libraries, packed convention floor auditoriums in New York and London, bookstores, bars, and even senior citizen communities.
In addition to the BBC, Eliot’s work has also appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, The Washington Post, National Geographic, The Guardian, CNN, Condé Nast Traveler, The Independent, and elsewhere.