Black Orchid Banquet Speakers

DateSpeakerPositionTitle of Talk
December 3, 1978Prof. John McAleerAuthor of the Rex Stout Biography (see the menu from the First Banquet)“Welcome to The Wolfe Pack”
December 1, 1979Jamie O’Boyle Charter Pack member, soldier of fortune, and a man of mystery and intrigue“A Word from Wolfe”
December 4, 1980Jonathan LevineWine Writer, Gourmand   “The Wines of Nero Wolfe”
December 5, 1981Jacques Barzun American writer, educator, and historian “Rex Stout and His Two Lives”
December 4, 1982Dr. Robin WinksProfessor of English Yale University “Pricking Small Bubbles”
December 3, 1983Hy Brown Radio Broadcaster: Hy Brown Nightly Mysteries “My Life With Nero Wolfe on Radio”
December 1, 1984Isaac Asimov Author & Friend of Mr. Stout“Remembering Nero”
December, 1985Tony SpicerNYC Private Detective “I Wish I Were Nero Wolfe”
December, 1986John McAleer Author of the Rex Stout Biography“On Rex Stout”
The Open Book Ensemble NYC’s Oldest Professional Readers Theatre CompanyThe Nero Wolfe Cantata
December 5, 1987Margaret GoodmanActress and Singer  “Nero Wolfe and the Performing Arts”
December, 1988Gahan WilsonCartoonist “Mr. Wolfe’s Nose”
December, 1989Fritz SonnenschmidtChef  Culinary Institute of America (CIA) “Nero Wolfe—Nutritional Genius”
December, 1990William DeAndreaMystery Writer  “A Debt to Nero Wolfe”
December 7, 1991Philip LentzPress Secretary to the New York Lieutenant Governor “Archie Goodwin–Second Banana”
December, 1992Rebecca Stout Bradbury Daughter of Rex Stout“About Living with Nero Wolfe”
  A Nero Wolfe Roast
October 23, 1993Archie GoodwinEditor & Illustrator of Comics (e.g., Marvel Comics/Spider Man) “What’s it Like to be Archie Goodwin”
December, 1994Sgt. Robert ChungNYPD  “A Detective In Real Life”
December, 1995Barbara BurnEditor, The Nero Wolfe Cookbook“History of the Nero Wolfe Cookbook”
December, 1996Douglas BraswellActor  “Being Nero Wolfe”
December, 1997Marvin KayeActor and Writer“Introduction to Mystery Writing”
December, 1998 H. Paul JeffersAuthor, Corpus, Corpus (*Corpus, Corpus, one of Mr. Jeffers’ mystery stories, is set at the annual Black Orchid Banquet of The Wolfe Pack.  Available online.)“Wolfe Was Mycroft’s Son”
December, 1999Ellen KriegerFounder of The Wolfe Pack  “Reflections on The Wolfe Pack”
December, 2000Robin Winks Professor of English, Yale University “The Place of Nero Wolfe in American Mystery Fiction”
December, 2001Michael JaffeExecutive Producer, The Nero Wolfe Television Series“Bringing Nero Wolfe to Television”
December 7, 2002Barbara BenjaminSecretary to Rex Stout at the War Writers Board“Working for Rex Stout”
December 6, 2003 Marvin Kaye Actor and Writer “The Nero Wolfe Files”
December 4, 2004 Jane Haddam Mystery Writer and Wolfe Pack member “Killing Off People You Don’t Like for Fun and Profit”
December 3, 2005David Rosengarten Noted chef, TV personality, & author of It’s All American Food“American Cuisine”
December 2, 2006 Lawrence Block Noted Author & First Recipient of The Nero Award “Literary Awards”
December 8, 2007Donald WestlakeNoted Author State of Indie Bookstores Keeping the Masters in Print
December 6, 2008Frank D. GilroyPulitzer-Prize-winning author, screenwriter and director of the 1977 TV movie of THE DOORBELL RANGThe making of the Nero Wolfe movie starring Thayer David and Tom Mason
December 5, 2009Elaine MayA retrospective of Nero WolfeHer vision of and reflections on Mr. Wolfe
December 4, 2010Gahan WilsonAward-winning cartoonist & creator of The Wolfe Pack logo“Mr. Wolfe’s Lips Exercise”
December 3, 2011Linda FairsteinFormer Manhattan DA’s office prosecutor and Multi-Award Winning Author of the Alex Cooper mystery series“My Non-Movie Deal”
December 1, 2012William C. Forbes, Esq.Award-winning author of the Nero Wolfe continuations and other stories“The investigation depicted at Kanawha Spa in Too Many Cooks”
December 7, 2013Robert GoldsboroughAward-winning musical theatre lyricist and composer, including Godspell, Pippin, and Wicked“Lots of Frightened Men”
December 6, 2014Stephen SchwartzAward winning musical theatre lyricist and composer, including Godspell, Pippin, and WickedAffection for and appreciation of Wolfe and Stout
December 5, 2015Terry TeachoutAmerican critic, biographer, librettist, author, playwright, and blogger; the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal, the critic-at-large of Commentary “Better than Holmes”
December 3, 2016Michael BourneLoren Estleman is a writer of detective and Western fiction. He is known for a series of crime novels featuring the investigator Amos Walker. He is also known for his humorous short stories published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine featuring Claudius Lyon, who drinks copious amounts of cream soda and grows tomatoes in his rooftop greenhouse, and Arnie Woodbine, an ex-con who is the narrator of the stories  
December 2, 2017Joseph GoodrichJoseph Goodrich, an author and dramatist, lives in New York. Park Square Theatre in Saint Paul, Minnesota, commissioned a world-premiere stage adaption of The Red Box, presented June 6 – July 13, 2014 .  
December 1, 2018Loren EstlemanLoren Estleman is a writer of detective and Western fiction. He is known for a series of crime novels featuring the investigator Amos Walker. He is also known for his humorous short stories published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine featuring Claudius Lyon, who drinks copious amounts of cream soda and grows tomatoes in his rooftop greenhouse and Arnie Woodbine, an ex-con who is the narrator of the stories  
December 7, 2019Professor Amanda BellarminoProfessor at the UNLV College of Hospitality“Why Does the Wolfe Pack Wander?”
December 5, 2020Rebecca Stout BradburyRex Stout’s daughterInterview, conducted by Marilyn Schaffer (virtual event)
December 4, 2021(No keynote speech due to extra award presentations)
December 3, 2022Professor Thomas HowellRetired Professor of History and author of Soldiers of the Pen“Rex Stout and the Writers’ War Board”
December 2, 2023Professor Paul FreedmanYale University Professor of History, author, and expert on cuisine“Wolfe, Stout, and American Dining”
December 7, 2024Professor Jill LeporeHarvard University Professor of History, New Yorker columnist, and author“A Wolfe in the Garden”