Author Talk with Liza Bennett: Georgia & Anita: The Lifelong Friendship of Georgia O’Keeffe and Anita Pollitzer

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Museum admission / free for members

Join author Liza Bennett in conversation with Doreen Kelley, executive director of Wiawaka Center for Women, as they discuss events and themes explored in Bennett’s book Georgia & Anita: The Lifelong Friendship of Georgia O’Keeffe and Anita Pollitzer.

Liza Bennett, who has published ten novels (including four set in the Berkshires), turns to creative nonfiction to tell the little-known story of the enduring friendship between America’s first great woman artist and a charismatic leader of the suffragist movement. Based on extensive research, including their fifty-year correspondence, Georgia & Anita casts light on the friendship of these two women who, in different ways, helped to modernize the world and women’s roles in it.

The book describes how Anita Pollitzer first showed Georgia O’Keeffe’s work to family friend and mentor Alfred Stieglitz, the world-famous photographer whose 291 gallery in New York City was the epicenter of the modern art world. While O’Keeffe, Stieglitz, and their circle were at the forefront of American modernism, Pollitzer became a leader of the National Woman’s Party and was instrumental in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.

Of local interest, the book explores the many decades O’Keeffe spent at Stieglitz’s home on Lake George, a period that began with great creative output and ended in personal turmoil.

Liza Bennett is a full-time writer and former advertising executive. She previously published under her maiden name, Liza Gyllenhaal. Georgia & Anita is her first work of nonfiction. She is the past Board Chair and long-time board member of the Academy of American Poets (currently serving on the emeritus board) and is Secretary of the West Stockbridge Historical Society. She divides her time between New York City and the Berkshire Hills in Massachusetts.

Doreen Kelley has had the incredible honor of leading Wiawaka since 2018. Wiawaka’s mission is to enrich, inspire, and celebrate the growth of women through unique and relevant programming in a natural and peaceful setting. As a unique and honored location, Wiawaka provides proof of Georgia O’Keeffe’s early days on Lake George. Check out information on Georgia O’Keeffe Week, July 13-17, 2026.

Books will be for sale by the author following the event.