Vanessa Braganza in Conversation: Renaissance Women Codebreakers

Overview

Anne Boleyn. Mary, Queen of Scots. Some of history’s most brilliant women had secrets, hiding in plain sight: carved into palace walls, stamped onto book covers, and worn around their necks. What if you could crack their codes through history’s Easter eggs?

From love letters and royal scandals to secret symbols hidden in jewelry and palace walls, the women of the Renaissance knew a thing or two about keeping secrets. Harvard-trained Renaissance scholar, literary cryptographer, and 92NY Roundtable favorite Vanessa Braganza joins us in person as she celebrates her new book, The Secret Seekers: A Book Detective’s Quest to Crack the Coded Messages of History’s Most Brilliant Women.

Introducing us to the queens, spies, and literary rebels who used cryptography to navigate a world determined to underestimate them, Braganza helps us discover the hidden messages of the most powerful women in history. Then put your own detective skills to the test as Braganza challenges the audience to solve a real 500-year-old cipher.

Part historical puzzle, part interactive mystery, hear Braganza rewrite what you thought you knew about the Renaissance — and women’s history — one secret at a time.

After the talk, stick around for a one-hour open bar and book-signing with Braganza and your fellow mystery lovers.