The Atlantic Festival Announces Initial Lineup and Performances, September 21–23 at The Wharf in D.C.

Interviews with White House Chief of Staff Ronald A. Klain, Senator Christopher Murphy, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, and actor, producer, and writer Constance Wu; a performance by playwright Michael R. Jackson of A Strange Loop; and Debate Night with Open to Debate formerly known as Intelligence Squared U.S. featuring FLS+ of Freestyle Love Supreme

The Atlantic is releasing the first slate of interviews and performances as part of The Atlantic Festival, its annual live event gathering the most influential voices on the ideas shaping a changing nation. This year: The Atlantic Festival is taking place from Wednesday, September 21 to Friday, September 23 at venues across The Wharf in Washington, D.C., including outdoors on the District Pier.

Starting today, tickets are on sale to the public, available to purchase as All-Access, Three-Day, One-Day, or Three-Evening passes. A number of festival events will also be streamed to subscribers and audiences who are registered for a free virtual ticket.

Among the interviews and programming announced today: White House Chief of Staff Ronald A. Klain; a performance by Michael R. Jackson, playwright, composer, and lyricist of the Pulitzer- and Tony-winning A Strange Loop; actor, producer, and writer Constance Wu; Senator Christopher Murphy Dr. Anthony Fauci; president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Alexis McGill Johnson; novelist Tom Perrotta; and Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, co-founder and executive director of the African American Policy Forum.

The festival is also announcing an evening of debate with Intelligence Squared, which will also include a performance by FLS+, made up of members of the hit Broadway show Freestyle Love Supreme a session on banned books with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, Atlantic contributing writer and founding director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University; the premiere of Shadowland, a forthcoming documentary series based on The Atlantic’s reporting on conspiracy theories and their influence on truth and our democracy; and a conversation with the creators of the documentary Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and will be released widely in early 2023, and follows the student organizers who fought for voting rights and Black power in the 1960s.

The 14th annual Atlantic Festival is the preeminent live exploration of The Atlantic’s journalism, driving headlines through conversations with the people at the center of the biggest stories. Events will mirror the reporting that has defined The Atlantic over the past year, with sessions focused on misinformation and the future of democracy, health equity, climate change, the criminal justice reform movement, and the future of work, among other urgent topics. Leading and joining conversations are many of the magazine’s writers and editors, including editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg; executive editor Adrienne LaFrance editors Ross Andersen, Gal Beckerman, Ron Brownstein, Kate Julian, and Vann R. Newkirk II; staff writers Tim Alberta, Caitlin Dickerson, Franklin Foer, David Frum, Barton Gellman, Sophie Gilbert, Adam Harris, Shirley Li, Tom Nichols, Jennifer Senior, Derek Thompson, and Ed Yong; and contributing writer Jemele Hill.

The 2022 Atlantic Festival is supported by Boston Consulting Group, CTIA, Pfizer, Southern Company, and Walton Family Foundation as Presenting Level Underwriters KPMG as a Supporting Level Underwriter, and Allstate, Edward Jones, Genentech, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and Penguin Random House as Contributing Level Underwriters.

Press should request a credential by emailing press@theatlantic.com; in-person seating will be limited and will need to be reserved in advance.

The Atlantic Festival
September 21–23, 2022
The Wharf, D.C., and Virtually
Ticketing: https://www.theatlantic.com/live/atlantic-festival-2022/
Press Questions: Email The Atlantic’s press team at press@theatlantic.com.