Nerd god George R.R. Martin is scheduled to speak at Northwestern University (his alma mater) on November 4. According to The Daily Northwestern, the Game of Thrones creator was one of seven alumni honored by the university at the Chicago History Museum in May, but he was unable to attend the event. During his visit to Evanston, he'll receive the university's prestigious Medill Hall of Achievement award, followed by a speech and Q and A open to Northwestern faculty, students and staff.
So if you'd like some face time with the 67-year-old writer, you'll have to enroll in the school or start working on your fake WildCARD (a Northwestern University student ID).
Martin has a pretty strong Chicago connection. After obtaining his master's in journalism from Northwestern in 1971, he moved into an apartment in Uptown, where he would end up writing his first novel and discover a knack for fostering stray cats. He would eventually get married in the city, before moving with his wife to Dubuque, Iowa in the late '70s. One could argue that Martin's imagination wouldn't have been so wild and strange if it weren't for his time in Chicago—we at least must have had more of an impact than Dubuque.
The fact that Northwestern was able to book the white-bearded celebrity is pretty impressive, especially considering Game of Thrones set a new record at the Emmys on Sunday night by winning 12 awards. Furthermore, the timeline for his A Song of Ice and Fire novel series, on which Game of Thrones is based, has somehow fallen behind the HBO show, which makes us wonder how he has any time to be schmoozing in the North Shore.