The Virginia Festival of the Book returns to The Paramount Theater on March 24, 2018 with their program In Pursuit of Truth: An Evening with the National Book Awards, hosted in partnership with the National Book Foundation, UVA Arts, and Encyclopedia Virginia and the Virginia Indian Program at Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. 2017 National Book Awards finalists Erica Armstrong Dunbar (Never Caught) and David Grann (Killers of the Flower Moon) will join 2017 National Book Awards longlisted author Kevin Young (Bunk) in a discussion of the stories and facts their books bring to light, the hidden impacts of racism and social inequality in America that their work speaks to, and ultimately, the pursuit of truth in their award-winning nonfiction. National Book Foundation executive director Lisa Lucas will moderate. Book sales and signing will follow.
Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased online at www.theparamount.net, by phone at 434-979-1333, or in person at The Paramount Theater’s Box Office Monday-Friday from 10AM-2PM at 215 East Main Street, Charlottesville, VA 22902.
About the Speakers:
Erica Armstrong Dunbar, author of Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge, a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award in Nonfiction, is the Charles and Mary Beard Professor of History at Rutgers University. She also serves as director of the Program in African American History at the Library Company of Philadelphia.
David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award in Nonfiction, is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the best-selling author of The Lost City of Z. He is also the author of The Devil and Sherlock Holmes. His work has garnered several honors for outstanding journalism, including a George Polk Award. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI was selected as the Amazon Editors’ Pick for the Best Book of 2017.
Kevin Young, author of Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News, a selection for the 2017 National Book Award in Nonfiction longlist, is also the author of a previous book of nonfiction, The Grey Album, and eleven books of poetry, including Blue Laws and Jelly Roll, both recognized (longlist and finalist, respectively) for the National Book Award. He is the director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem and poetry editor for The New Yorker.
Lisa Lucas is the executive director of the National Book Foundation. Prior to joining the Foundation, she served as the publisher of Guernica, director of education at the Tribeca Film Institute, and on the development team at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Lucas also serves on the literary council of the Brooklyn Book Festival.
