How to Come Alive with Norman Mailer

Q&A with Danielle Mailer, Norman Mailer’s Daughter
Join us for a lively discussion after the screening.

Norman Mailer, America’s most controversial and bestselling author of the 20th Century, had a life that was certainly stranger than fiction. Propelled by his tremendous ego and contrarian spirit, Mailer’s ceaseless visibility in the public eye lasted six decades, during which he had six tumultuous marriages, nine beloved children, 11 bestsellers, three arrests, and two Pulitzer Prizes. Prophet, hedonist, violent criminal, literary outlaw, and social provocateur, Mailer’s ideas about love, anger, fear, and courage cut to the core of human nature and are more relevant than ever today. Perhaps the last true American public intellectual, he prescribed waking ourselves up to shake free of society’s expectations and come alive as a people. The first documentary with full access to Mailer’s family and their archive, the film follows him from his formative years in Brooklyn through his career as a preeminent cultural voice, unearthing a treasure trove of intimate and never-before-seen footage, outtakes, audio recordings, and interviews from throughout his life. Mailer lays himself bare, foibles and all.

Danielle Mailer
In the past two decades, artist Danielle Mailer has completed six larger-than-life, public art pieces permanently installed in Connecticut’s Northwest Corner and beyond. A graduate of Bowdoin College, she studied at the New York Studio School and School of Visual Arts. Mailer has shown in galleries and museums throughout North America and divides her time between making art and teaching art at The Salisbury Boys School in Salisbury, Connecticut. She is a two-time recipient of the 50 most important people of Litchfield County and was voted Litchfield Magazine’s “Readers’ Choice” favorite artist of 2023. In the winter of 2025 she will begin a collaboration with the Litchfield Arts Council to create and install a 30 x 9 ft. mural on the Bantam Arts building façade in Bantam, CT, by fall 2026. She lives with her Jazz musician husband Peter McEachern, and are visited regularly by their three adult children and grandchildren.