23rd Annual Norman Mailer Society Conference Mailer at the Bicentennial November 4–7, 2026, Sirata Beach Resort, St. Pete Beach, FL
Updated October 29, 2026. Subject to change. Also available as the printed program (PDF).
All sessions are in King Palm, 2nd floor, unless otherwise noted.
Wednesday, November 4
5:45–7:15 p.m. Welcome Reception and Cash Bar
The Grotto
7:30 p.m. Dinner on your own
Thursday, November 5
8:00–9:15 a.m. Continental Breakfast
Queen Palm, 2nd floor
9:15–10:15 a.m. Business Meeting
10:30–11:30 a.m. Vote the Rascals In: The 1969 Mayoral Campaign
- Justin Bozung, “Mailer/Breslin: Looking Back at the Campaign”
- MaryLynn Navarro, “Norman as the Politician / The Politician as Norman”
Moderator: Matthew S. Hinton
11:45 a.m.–12:45 p.m. Mixing Memory and Desire and Mailer
- Raymond M. Vince, “Reflections on Time Present: Attacks on Memory, Complexity, and Empathy”
- Nicole DePolo, “A Triad of Novels: Norman Mailer’s Master Plan for an Ancient Evenings Trilogy”
Moderator: Maggie McKinley
12:45–2:15 p.m. Lunch on your own
2:30–3:30 p.m. Mailer at the Bicentennial
- Robert J. Begiebing, “The Prophet Speaks”
- J. Michael Lennon, “Hercules at the Crossroads: Mailer in 1976”
Moderator: Mashey Bernstein
3:45–4:45 p.m. Sportsmanship and Brinkmanship
- Peter Balbert, “From the Big Toe of God to the Wings of Ego: Norman Mailer, Muhammad Ali, and the Challenge of ‘King of the Hill’”
- Jared Young, “Writing Giants and Riding Giants: Norman Mailer’s Unlikely Influence on Modern American Surf Culture”
Moderator: Justin Bozung
5:00–5:30 p.m. Philip Bufithis, “A Visit with Dr. Raymond Loomis”
Interlocutor: J. Michael Lennon
5:45 p.m. Drinks and dinner on your own
Friday, November 6
8:00–9:15 a.m. Continental Breakfast
Queen Palm, 2nd floor
9:15–10:15 a.m. Of the Making of Books
- Gerald R. Lucas, “A Second Life: The Mailer Critical Library and Mailer Editions”
- Matthew S. Hinton, “The Mailer Logs: A Preview of J. Michael Lennon’s Days with the Author”
- Eric D. Martin, “Another Fire on the Moon: Reflections on Norman Mailer’s Of a Fire on the Moon in Light of Our Return to Lunar Exploration”
Moderator: Raymond M. Vince
10:30–11:30 a.m. On The Castle in the Forest
- James A. Taylor, “Unleashing the Supernatural: Mailer and Hitler”
- Jason Mosser, “Mailer’s Hitler and the Bad Seed”
Moderator: Bonnie Culver
11:45 a.m.–12:45 p.m. Literature and Its Discontents
- David Mikics, “Could Mailer Be (Henry) Jamesian?”
- Maggie McKinley, “The Devil and Norman Mailer: ‘The Trial of the Warlock’”
- Austin Dabney, “A Heated Rivalry: Norman Mailer and James Baldwin”
Moderator: Philip Bufithis
1:00–2:30 p.m. Lunch on your own
Executive Board meeting, Queen Palm, 2nd floor
2:45–3:45 p.m. The Mind of a Rebel
- Emily Benedek, “The Letters of Jack Henry Abbott: History as Destiny”
- Marc Triplett, “Oswald’s Tale: Character in the Study of Assassination”
Moderator: Robert Dean Lurie
4:00–5:00 p.m. On The Big Empty
- David Lurie, Robert Dean Lurie, and John Buffalo Mailer, “The Big Empty, Twenty Years On”
5:15–7:15 p.m. Drinks and dinner on your own
7:30–8:30 p.m. NMS Readers’ Theatre: “The Time of Another Time: An Encore of Mailer Cuttings Two Decades Later”
Bonnie Culver, Matthew S. Hinton, J. Michael Lennon, and Enid Stubin
Saturday, November 7
9:30–9:45 a.m. Coffee
9:45–10:45 a.m. Remembering Barbara Mailer Wasserman
Bonnie Culver, J. Michael Lennon, and Enid Stubin
11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. Lunch
Queen Palm, 2nd floor
Presentation of the Robert F. Lucid Award to David Denby by Matthew S. Hinton