The 10th anniversary season of the Chappell Great Lives Lecture Series began last month, with Philip Freeman speaking about Julius Caesar. The lectures, which are free and typically draw several hundred people, are sponsored by the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

In the months to come, the lectures will look at the lives of such diverse figures as Brigham Young, Rasputin, Marian Anderson, Michelangelo, and Walter Cronkite. Lecturers will include BIO member Carl Rollyson, Sally Bedell Smith, Michael Burlingame, and Arnold Rampersad, winner of the 2012 BIO Award.

BIO is a proud program affiliate of the Great Lives Series, with BIO vice president Brian Jay Jones serving as the liaison with the university. In an interview with fredericksburg.com, Jones noted, “A good biography is a great life well-told. A great life can even be a small life well-told. Everyone’s got a compelling story.”

To see the complete lineup, visit the program’s website.