Secrets of the Octopus: A lecture with Sy Montgomery

WHAT: The New England Aquarium’s Lowell Lecture Series welcomes bestselling author and National Book Award Finalist Sy Montgomery for a talk about octopuses and insights from her work studying these fascinating animals. Starting with the welcoming touch of a giant Pacific octopus named Athena at the New England Aquarium, these intelligent cephalopods helped open the ocean to Montgomery. The result was a slew of watery adventures, leading to more than half a dozen marine-themed books, helping to inspire a golden age of octopus research and appreciation. In the space of a decade, our views of octopuses have transformed from monsters to superheroes—and the latest research has shown that many species of these mollusks are far more varied, emotional, and socially complex than previously imagined. In her talk, Montgomery will share personal insights from her extensive study of octopuses and new scientific findings from her latest octopus book, Secrets of the Octopus.

WHEN: Thursday, November 6 at 6:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. with a cash bar available.

WHERE: In person at the New England Aquarium’s Simons Theatre, 1 Central Wharf, Boston. The lecture will also be livestreamed via Zoom.

HOW: Register here for in-person and virtual attendance to the event. Advance registration is required. This New England Aquarium Lowell Lecture Series event is free to the public and presented through the generosity of the Lowell Institute.

WHO: Researching articles, films, and her 39 books for adults and children, nationally bestselling author Sy Montgomery has been chased by an angry silverback gorilla in Rwanda, hunted by a tiger in India, and swum with piranhas, electric eels, and pink dolphins in the Amazon. Her work has taken her from the cloud forest of Papua New Guinea (for a book on tree kangaroos) to the Altai Mountains of the Gobi Desert (for another on snow leopards). For The Soul of an Octopus (a National Book Award finalist) she befriended octopuses at the New England Aquarium and scuba-dived and snorkeled with wild octopuses in Mexico and French Polynesia.

Her work has been honored with dozens of awards, including the 2024 Cook Prize Gold Medal, the 2021 Sarah Josepha Hale Award, the 2017 Henry David Thoreau Prize for Literary Excellence, and Montgomery is the recipient of four honorary degrees.

MEDIA CONTACT: Pam Bechtold Snyder—617-686-5068; psnyder@neaq.org