Virtual Illinois Libraries Present: “Bringing History to Life with Jonathan Eig" -- January 13.
Tuesday, January 13, 7 p.m.
Presented by the Rock Island and Silvis Public Libraries
With the virtual program boasting an interview with the bestselling author of six books including his most recent, Pulitzer Prize-winning King: A Life, the Rock Island and Silvis Public Libraries join Illinois Libraries Present in hosting Bringing History to Life with Jonathan Eig, this January 13 event finding the author in conversation with The Interview Show's Mark Bazer.
The first major biography in decades of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., Eig's King: A Life is also the first to include recently declassified FBI files. In this revelatory new portrait of the preacher and activist who shook the world, Eig gives us an intimate view of King, who masterfully employed peaceful protest in the streets but was rarely at peace with himself. From the classroom to the pulpit to the streets of Birmingham, Selma, and Memphis, Eig dramatically re-creates the journey of a man who recast American race relations and became our only modern-day founding father―as well as the nation’s most mourned martyr.
Eig began his writing career at age 16, working for his hometown newspaper, New York's The Rockland County Journal News. He studied journalism at Northwestern University, and went on to work as a reporter for The New Orleans Times-Picayune, The Dallas Morning News, Chicago Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. According to his parents, Jonathan's greatest claim to fame is that his name once appeared in a Jeopardy! question. Eig lives in Chicago with his wife and children and shares office space with the laundry machines.
Mark Bazer will join Eig in conversation. Bazer is the host and executive producer of The Interview Show, a live talk show filmed at The Hideout that ran for six seasons on WTTW, Chicago's PBS station, and was syndicated through American Public Television. The show is currently held at both The Hideout and FitzGerald's and is available as a podcast. Bazer also frequently moderates events for Chicago Humanities and is a contributing writer for Chicago magazine.
This virtual event is made possible by Illinois Libraries Present, a statewide collaboration among public libraries offering premier events. ILP is funded in part by a grant awarded by the Illinois State Library, a department of the Office of Secretary of State, using funds provided by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).
The virtual program Bringing History to Life with Jonathan Eig will take place on January 13, participation in the 7 p.m. event is free, and more information is available by calling (309)732-7323 and visiting RockIslandLibrary.org, and calling (309)755-3393 and visiting SilvisLibrary.org.
