# International Book Blitz 2026 ## May 4, 2026 **This event is for Weatherhead affiliates or by invitation only.** **4:30pm–6:00pm** **Fisher Family Commons** **CGIS Knafel Building** **1737 Cambridge Street** Celebrate the end of the academic year at our annual International Book Blitz. At this popular event, open to all Weatherhead affiliates, a panel of faculty and alums will each give a seven-minute “speed talk” about their recent book, launching us into compelling issues from around the world. A party for affiliates will follow the presentations. Embed > READ: [Coverage in the Harvard Gazette](https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2026/05/how-immigrant-doctors-propped-up-u-s-healthcare-the-tale-of-americas-last-prison-ship-and-other-stories/) ### Moderator - **Erez Manela**, Acting Center Director (2025–2026); Director, Graduate Student Programs; Faculty Associate. Francis Lee Higginson Professor of History, Department of History, Harvard University. ### Speakers - **Eram Alam**, Faculty Associate. Associate Professor, Department of the History of Science, Harvard University. [*The Care of Foreigners: How Immigrant Physicians Changed US Healthcare*](https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/53838/care-foreigners) (Johns Hopkins University, 2025) - **Bruno Carvalho**, Faculty Associate (on leave 2025–2026). Codirector, Harvard Mellon Urban Initiative; Professor, Departments of Romance Languages and Literatures and of African and African American Studies, Harvard University. [*The Invention of the Future: A History of Cities in the Modern World*](https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691246550/the-invention-of-the-future) (Princeton University Press, 2026) - **Ian Kumekawa**, Anniversary Fellow, Center for History and Economics, Harvard University; Lecturer in History, MIT. [*Empty Vessel: The Story of the Global Economy in One Barge*](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/741342/empty-vessel-by-ian-kumekawa/) (Penguin Random House, 2025) - **Taeku Lee**, Faculty Associate. Bae Family Professor of Government, Department of Government, Harvard University. [*Billionaire Backlash: The Age of Corporate Scandal and How It Could Save Democracy*](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/billionaire-backlash-9781399424110/) (Bloomsbury, 2026) ***NOTE: Taeku Lee was unable to participate in this event.*** - **Gabrielle Oliveira**, Faculty Associate. Jorge Paulo Lemann Associate Professor of Education and of Brazil Studies, Harvard Graduate School of Education. [*Now We Are Here: Family Migration, Children’s Education, and Dreams for a Better Life*](https://www.sup.org/books/anthropology/now-we-are-here) (Stanford University Press, 2025) - **Daniel Lord Smail**, Faculty Associate. Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of History; Interim Chair, Department of History, Harvard University. [*Magdalena Coline: A Life Beyond Slavery in Mediterranean Europe*](https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691253800/magdalena-coline) (Princeton University Press, 2025) ### Individual Speed Talks ## Contact **Michelle Nicholasen** *Editor and Content Producer* [michelle\_nicholasen@wcfia.harvard.edu](mailto:michelle_nicholasen@wcfia.harvard.edu) 1737 Cambridge Street, Room K239 Cambridge, MA 02138 \[ [Map](http://goo.gl/maps/GxyRd) \] p: (617) 496-8774 f: (617) 495-8292 **Sarah Banse** *Events Manager* 1737 Cambridge Street, Room K217 Cambridge, MA 02138 \[ [Map](http://goo.gl/maps/GxyRd) \] p: (617) 495-9006 f: (617) 495-8292 See also:- [ Conferences ](/content-types/conferences) - [ 2026 ](/content-types/2026)