(LENOX, Mass.) – Meghan Daum, one of the premiere essayists of contemporary letters, will discuss the necessity of authentic personal writing in a world that prefers sentiment over truth with author Kate Bolick, as part of Touchstones: Conversations at The Mount, on Thursday, September 24, 2015, at 7:30pm.

The ostensible subjects of Daum’s essays range from her dogs, her mother, Joni Mitchell, ex-boyfriends, the decision not to have a child, the tedium of foodie culture, the definition of “romance”and Meghan’s own near death from a freak illness. Daum handles all her explorations with a dollop of self-deprecation and a keen and incisive wit, as well as dazzling writing that never draws attention to itself.

Meghan Daum is the author of four books, most recently the collection of original essays “The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion.” She is also the editor of “Selfish, Shallow & Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not To Have Kids.”

Since 2005, Meghan has been an opinion columnist at the Los Angeles Times, covering cultural and political topics. She is the recipient of a 2015 Guggenheim Fellowship and is currently an adjunct associate professor in the M.F.A. Writing Program at Columbia University’s School of the Arts.

Tickets for each event are $15 in advance and $18 at the door and include a book-signing. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit Touchstones: Conversations at The Mount or call 413-551-5100.

Touchstones, in its second year, is hosted by journalist and cultural critic Kate Bolick. Bolick wanted this year’s line-up to highlight writers who are expanding contemporary conversation around cultural flashpoints — race, gender, class, and family — in unexpected ways, from novels and personal essays to literary criticism and international reporting.

Kate Bolick is the author of the New York Times bestseller Spinster: Making a Life of One’s Own, a contributing editor for The Atlantic, and a freelance writer for The New York Times, Slate, and Vogue, among other publications. Previously, she was executive editor of Domino and a columnist for The Boston Globe. She has appeared on NBC’s Today show, CNN, MSNBC, and numerous NPR programs across the country. A recipient of a MacDowell fellowship, she holds a master’s in cultural criticism from New York University, where she also taught writing.