The Connecticut Forum season kicks off with a powerful conversation between New York Times bestselling author Suleika Jaouad and multiple Grammy Award-winning musician Jon Batiste. Now married, the artists will explore the powerful force of music in their lives, the love and resilience they find with one another, and the intertwining of sadness and joy in the creative process. 

Batiste and Jaouad are subjects of the 2023 documentary American Symphony, which chronicles the lives of the two artists as musician Jon Batiste sets out to compose a symphony and his life partner, author Suleika Jaouad, learns that her cancer is back. The documentary is a portrait of two artists at a crossroads and a meditation on art, love and the creative process.

This Forum conversation will run approximately 100 minutes with no intermission.