Free screening of The Fault in Our Stars to take place at Varsity Cinema on April 1
Drake University is honored to welcome #1 New York Times bestselling author John Green for the Martin Bucksbaum Distinguished Lectureship. The event, “An Evening with John Green,” will take place on Thursday, April 2, 2026 at 7 p.m. in the Knapp Center on Drake’s campus. The lecture is free and open to the public and will be moderated by Assistant Professor, Dr. Lindsay Woodward. Attendees are encouraged to submit questions for John Green here.
John Green is a bestselling author whose novels include Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns, The Fault in Our Stars, and Turtles All the Way Down. His books have been published in more than 55 languages with more than 24 million copies in print.
Green’s latest work, Everything is Tuberculosis, is a deeply human social and scientific history. The book illuminates the critical healthcare inequities that allow this curable, treatable infectious disease to remain the deadliest in the world, killing 1.5 million people every year.
Beyond his writing, Green’s works have seen significant success in film and television adaptations, including the movies The Fault in Our Stars (2014) and Paper Towns (2015), and the limited series Looking for Alaska (2019) on Hulu. He is the 2006 recipient of the Michael L. Printz Award, a 2009 Edgar Award winner, and has twice been a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
Event Details
- Date: Thursday, April 2, 2026
- Time: Doors open at 5:30 p.m.; Lecture begins at 7:00 p.m.
- Location: Knapp Center, Drake University
- Admission: Free and open to the public
Due to time constraints, Mr. Green will unfortunately be unable to sign books after the event. For those unable to attend in person, the session will be livestreamed at live.drake.edu, and a recording will be posted online after the lecture.
Free Screening at the Varsity Cinema
Leading up to the April 2 lecture, Drake has also arranged for a free screening of The Fault in Our Stars at the Varsity Cinema on Wednesday, April 1 at 7 pm. The event is presented by the Bucksbaum Distinguished Lecture with opening remarks from Drake University’s Dr. Bret Sikkink. Free tickets must be claimed in advance and are available to the first 100 registrants. Claim your free tickets at: https://varsitydesmoines.com/movies/the-fault-in-our-stars/.
About The Martin Bucksbaum Lectureship Series
Nearly 30 years ago, Martin and Melva Bucksbaum launched their vision for sparking community discussion about the most poignant issues of our time through a generous gift to Drake that helped establish the Martin Bucksbaum Lectureship Series. Over the years, the Lectureship has featured world-renowned speakers including Maya Angelou, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and Liz Cheney. Thanks to a recent additional gift from the Bucksbaums, the well-established lecture series now includes two tracks—the Bucksbaum Lectureship in Business, launched in Fall 2023, and the original Bucksbaum Distinguished Lectureship.
Learn more at drake.edu/bucksbaum.