Speaker Inquiries
Photo by Gabriella Marks
A popular speaker, Hampton often gives talks and multi-media presentations at conventions, conferences, and literary festivals.
Click here to learn more from Hampton’s profile on the Penguin Random House Speaker’s Bureau website.
For speaker engagements, contact:
Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau
1745 Broadway, MD 13-1
New York, NY 10019
The Amazing Portrait and Story of Mai
Getty Center Museum, September 20, 2026
Coinciding with the US debut of Sir Joshua Reynolds’s Portrait of Mai, this conversation explores Reynolds’s painting and its extraordinary subject, Mai, the first Polynesian to visit England. Join author and historian Hampton Sides and Getty’s associate director of collections Richard Rand to hear about Reynold’s making of the full-length portrait, Mai’s time in England from 1774-76, and his return voyage to Tahiti on Captain James Cook’s final voyage.
Hampton Sides and Beto O’Rourke
Kentucky Author Forum, May 7, 2026
Acclaimed bestselling author, Hampton Sides, examines the complexities and consequences of the Age of Exploration in his most recent work, “The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook.” He discusses this ferociously-paced story of adventure on the high seas with former Texas congressman and history enthusiast, Beto O’Rourke.
Hampton talks about his work and the importance of narrative on New Mexico PBS
In this special 30 minute COLORES, bestselling author Hampton Sides shares his process for writing, the necessity of historical accuracy, and how the pleasure of reading is important.
“Almost as important as the stories themselves, is how we tell them, and so we make them interesting and compelling and resonant for the next generation.”
Panel Discussion
on Narrative Non-Fiction
Daniel James Brown, S.C. Gwynne, and Hampton Sides talked about how they use character, plot, and pacing to write nonfiction narratives and biographies.
“History with a Novelist’s Touch: Writing Narrative Nonfiction” was a panel discussion at the 2015 Tucson Festival of Books, held on March 14-15 on the campus of the University of Arizona.