Trinity Talks
Throughout the year, Trinity Church hosts events at the intersection of sacred and civic life. Trinity Talks educate, inform, and inspire – providing in-person opportunities to engage with writers, artists, and thinkers who deepen our understanding on issues of faith, social justice, and community.
Coming Up
Trinity Talks: A Conversation with Poet Christian Wiman
Christian Wiman reads from his new poetry collection, “The Dance,” and reflects on humanity, faith, and our search for God
Join us on Wednesday, July 8, at 6pm in St. Paul’s Chapel as theologian, poet, and professor Christian Wiman returns for his second Trinity Talks event to celebrate the official book launch of his newest poetry collection, The Dance. Through his profound and lyrical writing, Wiman helps us see the beauty of the world around us, in all its fragility. Offering comfort and a path to spiritual renewal, he explores what he calls “the slow dance of grace and circumstance” and how we may grapple with life’s sorrows and experience joy.
Wiman will read from The Dance and be joined by Summerlee Staten, Trinity’s executive director of Faith Formation and Education, for a discussion reflecting on faith, doubt, and our journey as humans to contemplate the depths of the divine.
Christian Wiman has written, edited, or translated more than a dozen books of poetry and prose, including two memoirs. He has won multiple national awards for his work and has been called “the best devotional poet writing in English” (Poetry). Wiman teaches religion and literature at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and at Yale Divinity School.
Doors open at 5:15pm with light refreshments offered. Books will be available for purchase and signing after the talk.
Past Events
Alexander Hamilton and the Making of America: A Conversation with Joanne Freeman
On May 6, historian Joanne Freeman joined the Rev. Phillip A. Jackson to discuss the life and legacy of one of Trinity's most famous parishioners — Alexander Hamilton. Using the Founding Father’s story as a lens into history, Freeman plunged us into the charged atmosphere of New York City during the Revolutionary era. In light of America’s 250th anniversary, Freeman and Jackson explored how the political intrigue, ambitions, and polarization of Hamilton’s time continue to echo today.
Joanne Freeman is a Yale historian and leading authority on the revolutionary and early national periods of American history. Her most recent book, The Field of Blood: Congressional Violence in Antebellum America, examines physical violence in the U.S. Congress and the nature of American sectionalism. Freeman hosts the popular weekly webcast, History Matters… and So Does Coffee and served as a historical consultant to Hamilton playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda.
This event was produced in collaboration with the Alliance for Downtown New York.
The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution: A Conversation with Amanda Vaill
On March 10, acclaimed biographer Amanda Vaill joined journalist Celia McGee to discuss Vaill’s new book, Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Made famous in the musical Hamilton, Trinity parishioners Angelica Schuyler Church and her sister Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, wife of Alexander Hamilton, rebelled against the roles expected of them. Vaill brought their stories to life, from the attraction that grew between Alexander and Angelica, to his devotion to Eliza, to her resilience after his tragic death by duel. She shifted our understanding of the role women played in the founding era of our country, offering a fresh take on the lives of two groundbreaking women living through a turning point in history as tumultuous as our own.
Amanda Vaill is the author of Hotel Florida, Somewhere, and the bestselling Everybody Was So Young, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is an Emmy-nominated screenwriter, and her journalism and criticism have appeared in many publications, including The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Town & Country, and New York.
Celia McGee writes frequently about books and authors for The New York Times and is a contributing book critic for Air Mail. She is a former publishing columnist for The New York Observer.
Who Tells Your Story? A Conversation with Ken Burns and Lin-Manuel Miranda
On November 12, 2025, a special Trinity Talk for youth brought more than 400 enthusiastic NYC public school students to Trinity Church for a master class in Revolutionary War history from acclaimed documentarian Ken Burns and Tony Award–winning playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda. Through documentary storytelling, dialogue on citizenship, and Hamilton-inspired performances, students explored how their voices, creativity, and civic engagement can influence democracy and reshape the future.
Ken Burns’ latest documentary series, The American Revolution, tells the story of America’s founding struggle. Burns has been making films for almost fifty years and has been honored with dozens of major awards, including 17 Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and two Oscar nominations.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is an award-winning songwriter, actor, director, and producer. He is the creator and original star of the Tony award-winning musicals Hamilton and In the Heights.
Watch highlights of the event.
A Conversation with Dr. Maya Soetoro
Dr. Maya Soetoro — peacebuilder, educator, and author — joined us on September 28, 2025, to reflect on what it means to create peace in a time of conflict. Through a dynamic presentation, she shared perspectives and practices we can engage to cultivate peace within ourselves and with others. Summerlee Staten, Trinity's executive director for Faith Formation and Education, then joined her to discuss how we all have the capacity to help build a more just and peaceful world.
Dr. Soetoro is a faculty specialist at Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She is cofounder of the nonprofits Ceeds of Peace, The Peace Studio, and the Institute for Climate and Peace. A children’s book author, she is also the half-sister of former President Barack Obama and mother of two daughters, Suhaila and Savita, for whom she hopes the world will grow ever more peaceful and just.
Read an exclusive interview.
Watch.
A Conversation with Kevin Sack
On September 25, 2025, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Kevin Sack visited Trinity to discuss his new book Mother Emanuel: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church. While covering a mass shooting at Mother Emanuel in 2015, Sack became fascinated by the church’s history as one of the oldest Black congregations in the South and firsthand witness to the long struggle for racial justice. He joined the Rev. Phillip A. Jackson for a conversation about forgiveness as both a tenet of the Christian faith and a tool for survival in our darkest times.
Kevin Sack has written about national affairs for more than four decades and has shared in three Pulitzer Prizes. A native of Jacksonville, Florida, and a graduate of Duke University, he spent 30 years on the staff of The New York Times, where he specialized in long-form narrative and investigative reports.
Read an exclusive interview.
Watch.
A Conversation with James McBride
On March 30, 2025, James McBride joined Trinity Talks to discuss themes explored in his novel, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, which tells the stories of Black and Jewish residents of a Depression-era Pennsylvania town who rally across lines of race and class to protect a deaf Black child from institutionalization. Accompanied by Trinity’s Rector, the Rev. Phillip A. Jackson, the author reflected on how love and community sustain us in even the darkest times.
James McBride is a National Book Award winner, New York Times bestselling author, musician, and screenwriter. Born in New York City and educated in its public schools, McBride studied composition at The Oberlin Conservatory of Music and received a master’s in journalism from Columbia University. McBride is currently a distinguished writer in residence at New York University.
Watch highlights of the event.
An Afternoon with Christian Wiman
The poet Christian Wiman visited Trinity on March 9, 2025, to share insights from his recent book, Zero at the Bone: Fifty Entries Against Despair. Through an experimental blend of poetry, memoir, criticism, and theology, Wiman’s book ruminates on the seductive appeal of despair — and the ways faith and hope can diminish its power. For Wiman, who was diagnosed with a rare cancer nearly two decades ago, the most potent antidote to despair is awe.
Christian Wiman is the acclaimed author of more than a dozen books of poetry and prose, including his memoir My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer. He has won multiple national awards for his work and has been called “the best devotional poet writing in English” (Poetry).
Read an exclusive interview.
Watch highlights of the event.
An Exploration of Mysticism with Mirabai Starr
On November 24, 2024, author Mirabai Starr shared wisdom from her book, Ordinary Mysticism: Your Life as Sacred Ground, which challenges readers to discover the extraordinary in the everyday. Grounded in lessons from spiritual teachers across the centuries and informed by her own experiences of heartbreak, Starr’s teachings offer a roadmap back to our common humanity.
Mirabai Starr is an author, translator, and speaker who travels the world to share insights on contemplative living, writing as a spiritual practice, and the transformational power of grief and loss.
A Conversation with Amanda Ripley
Journalist Amanda Ripley’s book, High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out, introduces a mind-opening way of thinking about conflict that will transform how we move through the world. Drawing from her experiences as a reporter and trained conflict mediator, Ripley came to Trinity on October 27, 2024, to shed light on how Americans can break out of destructive feuds and find common ground.
Amanda Ripley is a New York Times bestselling author, Washington Post contributing columnist, and co-founder of Good Conflict, a media and training company that helps people reimagine conflict.
Watch highlights of the event.
A Conversation with Edwidge Danticat
On October 22, 2024, award-winning novelist Edwidge Danticat discussed Brother, I'm Dying, a poignant memoir about her family’s decision to flee escalating violence in Haiti and seek asylum in America. Drawing on her family’s collective memory, her own experiences, and government documentation, Danticat highlighted the potentially deadly consequences of U.S. immigration policy, while demonstrating how a family’s bonds of love can survive distance, loss, and tragedy.
The recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” grant, Danticat is the bestselling author of several notable books and has written articles for The New Yorker, The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, and other publications.
Watch highlights of the event.
A Conversation with Pico Iyer
Acclaimed author, journalist, and travel writer Pico Iyer opened the 2024-25 season of Trinity Talks on September 22, 2024, with a discussion of his recent bestseller, The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise. Drawing on a lifetime of global explorations, Iyer examined competing ideas of paradise to see how we might find peace in an ever more divided and distracted world.
Pico Iyer is the author of 15 books and a regular essayist for Time, The New York Times, Harper’s, National Geographic, Conde Nast Traveler , and more than 250 other periodicals worldwide.
A Conversation with Frank Bruni
In his powerful book, The Age of Grievance, best-selling author and New York Times columnist Frank Bruni examines how grievance has defined and shaped America — from the fierce debates of our Founding Fathers to today’s perilous climate of metastasizing anger. But while our politics and culture may seem irretrievably broken, Bruni says there are cures for what ails us.
Bruni joined the Rev. Phillip A. Jackson on May 30, 2024, for a compelling discussion about how the U.S. became a divided land, and what it will take to break the hold of our grudges.
A Conversation with Marilynne Robinson
On April 29, 2024, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marilynne Robinson discussed her book, Reading Genesis, “a powerful consideration of the profound meanings [of scripture] and promise of God’s enduring covenant with humanity.”
Robinson’s novels are noted for their thematic depiction of both rural life and faith. Her essays have spanned numerous topics, including the relationship between religion and science, US history, nuclear pollution, John Calvin, and contemporary American politics.
A Conversation with Richard Powers
On November 15, 2023, Bestselling author Richard Powers discussed his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Overstory, and explores our relationship with nature, our understanding of time, and the defiant act of hope in the face of the climate crisis.
Powers is the author of thirteen novels, including The Overstory and Orfeo, and the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, the Pulitzer Prize, and the National Book Award.