Tompkins County Public Library is providing additional information on the upcoming speaking engagement with Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Jonathan Eig on Monday, February 10. The event is free to attend.
Eig’s acclaimed book, “King: A Life” won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for biography. The book is the first biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. written with access to thousands of pages of FBI files. That’s in addition to thousands more personal papers from Dr. King’s associates and friends, and in-person interviews with those who knew Dr. King.
In April 2023, Eig told Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg, “I got to meet King’s close childhood friends, his Montgomery barber, his Dexter Baptist Church organist, and the list goes on. I hung out with Harry Belafonte, Dick Gregory, Jesse Jackson, and John Lewis. I even managed to get Mavis Staples to sing to me over the phone.”
Eig detailed learning intimate details about Dr. King, such as that he chewed his fingernails, suffered from sometimes debilitating depression, and that he had a dog named Topsy.
Eig added, “I learned the FBI’s assault on King was much crueler than I had known, and that Lyndon Johnson deserves a heavy portion of the blame. I could go on. But the biggest thing I learned, probably, is that the man had more courage than I ever could have imagined…He believed people might be united…and he was willing to risk his life to prove it.”
The event will run from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Library’s BorgWarner Community Room. Overflow seating will be available in the Digital Lab, adjacent to the BorgWarner Room, as well as the Thaler/Howell Programming Room. The event is made possible with funding from the Tompkins County Public Library Foundation.
Monday night’s event will include a book talk, followed by a question-and-answer session and a book signing, with the help of Odyssey Books of Ithaca. Those in attendance are welcome to bring their own copy of one of Eig’s several works. Odyssey Books will also have copies of “King: A Life” for sale for the cover price of $35.00. 15% of the proceeds will go to a local non-profit.
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