Exhalation and Other Worlds with Ted Chiang - Humanities Institute Distinguished Lecture

Leading science fiction writer Ted Chiang visits Humanities Institute as the 2024 Distinguished Lecturer, in conversation with Matt Bell, Director of The ASU Worldbuilding Initiative.

How do we understand nature? How do we understand ourselves? How do we create a better future in a world that is ever-changing?

We need stories to guide us, and for more than three decades the contemporary writer Ted Chiang has provided them.

Chiang has won every major science fiction award multiple times — four Hugo’s, four Nebula’s, four Locus Awards. Like such eclectic predecessors as Philip K. Dick, Jorge Luis Borges, Ursula K. Le Guin, Haruki Murakami, China Miéville, and Kazuo Ishiguro, Chiang explores complex relationships between science, technologies, religions, and philosophy in highly unconventional and insightful ways. Ted Chiang works with big ideas handled with nuance, craft and care.   

In this distinguished lecture, Chiang will reflect on his work, what it’s doing and where it will go next.

If you’ve seen the movie "Arrival" — it was based on his “Story of Your Life.” Looking to familiarize yourself with Chiang and his work? Listen to his interview with Ezra Klein, read his latest stories “Exhalation” and the title story free online. 

PLEASE NOTE THE EVENT TIMES

• 4:30–5:30 p.m., Pre-event Reception in RBH197, Ross-Blakley Hall
• 5:30–6:30 p.m., Distinguished Lecture in ARM101, Armstrong Hall
• Book Signing ("Exhalation") to follow

Distinguished Lecture (5:30–6:30 p.m.) will be livestreamed on ASU Live. Virtual audience can watch it at ASU Livestream.