"Creative Motivation: Danger and Desire," Alice Flaherty, Harvard Medical School, Associate Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry.

Summary: Creative work often depends more on motivation than talent, yet motivation—unlike talent—can fluctuate wildly even in a single hour. Are some drives better for creativity than others? How do drugs, behavioral habits, and environment change the way brains generate drives? Is more motivation always better? What should people do when they run out? 

Flaherty, an associate professor of neurology and psychiatry at Harvard, treats patients with disorders of voluntary action. All her books have multiple translations and awards. The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer’s Block, and the Creative Brain, became the basis for two TV series pilots and a definitely unauthorized horror movie. She was a protagonist of the award-winning podcast The Great God of Depression, and of Bedside Manner, an Oscar-qualifying short documentary.