Meliora Weekend has attracted many notable speakers, performers, and other public figures to the University over the years, including musician Tony Bennett, author Ann Patchett, and lawyer Jeffrey Toobin. This year, three more speakers headlined the annual festival.
Lisa Genova
Lisa Genova, a New York Times bestselling author and neuroscientist, has written seven novels, six of which are fiction, intertwining science with literature. With a background in neuroscience — a Ph.D. from Harvard University — Genova’s novels center around neurodegenerative diseases and mental health.
Genova’s writing journey began with “Still Alice,” a novel that dives into the reality of living with Alzheimer’s Disease and was adapted into film in 2014. Since writing “Still Alice,”, she has written books on other topics, including Huntington’s Disease in “Inside O’Brien,” and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in “Every Note Played.” Her most recent novel, “More or Less Maddy,” discusses Bipolar Disorder.
Genova has won multiple awards and did a TED talk on Alzheimer’s research.
Erik Larson
With a master’s degree from Columbia’s journalism school, Erik Larson began his writing career covering murders, witches, and other unpleasantries for the Bucks County Courier Times in Pennsylvania. Since then he has written 10 books, most of which are historical fiction. One of his books, “No One Goes Alone,” is only available as an audiobook.
Larson completes his own research. His books cover topics from serial killers in the United States (“The Devil in the White City”) to lesser known events of World War I (“Dead Wake”). His most recent work, “The Demon of Unrest,” was published in 2024 and discusses behaviors of both Confederate and Union supporters in the years leading up to the American Civil War.
“The Devil in the White City” has won several awards, including the Edgar Allen Poe award for Best Crime Fact, and presence on the New York Times’ Best Sellers list.
Trevor Noah
Primetime Emmy Awards winner and former host of “The Daily Show” Trevor Noah began his career in South Africa with the South African Broadcasting Corporation. He moved to the United States in 2011, and in 2014 joined The Daily Show. The next year, he became its host until he stepped down to pursue other opportunities in 2022.
That same year he hosted the White House Correspondents Dinner. Noah has hosted the Grammys five consecutive times. He has been named one of the 35 most powerful people in New York media by the Hollywood Reporter and 2018, Time magazine recognized him as one of the most influential 100 people in the world.
Meliora Weekend 2025 was not Trevor Noah’s first rodeo at the University — he also spoke as a headliner in the 2016 Meliora Weekend.
