Lynn Novick is one of the most renowned and respected documentary filmmakers and story tellers in America, recipient of Emmy, Peabody and Alfred I. duPont Columbia Awards. For more than 30 years she has been directing and producing landmark documentary films for PBS about American life and culture, history, politics, sports, art, architecture, literature, and music. In collaboration with Ken Burns, she has created more than 80 hours of acclaimed programming --The Vietnam War, Prohibition, Frank Lloyd Wright, The War, Jazz, Baseball,andThe Tenth Inning--  which have received 19 Emmy nominations.

Novick’s most recent production, College Behind Bars - herdebut as solo director – explored the inspiring and transformational journeys of a dozen incarcerated men and women doing time for serious crimes, as they struggle to earn degrees in one of the most rigorous and effective prison education programs in the country, the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI).  The immersive series, produced by Sarah Botstein and executive produced by Burns,  was distilled from nearly 400 hours of cinema-verite footage shot over four years in medium and maximum security prisons.College Behind Barspremiered at the New York Film Festival and aired on PBS in 2019, and later received two Emmy nominations.

Novick is currently collaborating with Burns, Botstein and the writer Geoffrey C. Ward on a three part biography of Ernest Hemingway airing on PBS in April 2021; a six hour examination of America’s response to the Holocaust; and a series on the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson. Her next solo directing project is an 8-part series on the history of crime and punishment in America, executive produced by Burns. Potential future projects include a series on the history of Soviet spying in America and a series about the public and private lives of remarkable American women. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Yale with honors in American Studies, and lives in New York City.

Speaking on: Keynote Conversation: Ken Burns & Lynn Novick