The Amos Fortune Forum has announced the schedule for its 80th annual summer speaker series, which runs Fridays from July 10 through Aug. 21.
The free presentations will take place at 7 p.m. at the historic Meetinghouse in Jaffrey Center.
The 2026 lineup includes:
- July 10: Jack Savage, president of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, presenting “Are New Hampshire’s Forests Threatened?”
- July 17: Emmy Award-winning children’s television producer Carol Greenwald, presenting “Aardvarks, Monkeys, and Talking Dogs: Lessons From a Career in Children’s Media.”
- July 24: Monadnock Ledger-Transcript Publisher Heather McKernan, presenting “The Future of Local News.”
- July 31: Duncan Watson, former assistant director of public works for the city of Keene, presenting “Everyone’s Trash: Where We’ve Been, Where We Are, Where We Could Go.”
- Aug. 7: Former U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, presenting “Insights on Ukraine: A Conversation with Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.”
- Aug. 14: Christine Guth, a professor of Japanese art history, presenting “Joseph Lindon Smith: Dublin’s Peripatetic Painter.”
- Aug. 21: Songwriters Tom Smith and Cosy Sheridan, presenting “Two Songwriters at the Kitchen Table.”
Recordings of most events will be available on YouTube following the presentations.
The forum was founded in 1946 to honor the legacy of Amos Fortune, a formerly enslaved man who purchased his freedom, moved to Jaffrey in 1781 and established a successful tannery. Upon his death, Fortune left significant bequests to the town’s church and schoolhouse.