Avalon Library Books Two Top-Shelf Authors: David Grann and Taylor Jenkins Reid Will Appear in July
Two superstar authors will touch down in Avalon when historical nonfiction author David Grann appears at Community Hall on July 21 and uber-popular novelist Taylor Jenkins Reid appears at Surfside Park on July 28. While their bestsellers are in different genres, both authors are considered masters of their craft, beloved by readers, and coveted by the film and TV industry.
Both author events are part of the Avalon Free Public Library’s ambitious Summer Spotlight Series, which is bringing big names and big entertainment to the shore all summer long. And each appearance will include a Q&A or presentation with the author, followed by a meet-and-greet book signing period.
Here is more information on each author and what you can expect at their exclusive appearances in Avalon.
David Grann
To say that David Grann is an “accomplished” journalist and author feels like a huge understatement. A staff writer at The New Yorker magazine, he is also the best-selling, multi-award-winning author of several page-turning books, including “The Lost City of Z,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and “The Wager.”
“David Grann is very immersive in the way he writes nonfiction, which is very accessible for a lot of people,” says Kara Buono, the Avalon Library’s assistant director of programs and engagement. “He brings stories to light in a very engaging manner. He tells you facts and information in a way that feels not only understandable, but enjoyable.”
Grann’s books are not only widely read, they’ve also been translated into dozens of languages, and frequently turned into movies. One of Grann’s biggest blockbusters was “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,” which was published in 2018. The book won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best true crime book, among other awards. It also was famously adapted into an award-winning movie directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone, who made history as the first Native American actress nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in the film.
Most recently, Grann published “The Wager,” which chronicles the events and controversial accounts of a British Royal Navy shipwreck in the 1740s. “The Wager” was a New York Times Best Seller, selected as a “Best Book of the Year” by many publications, and is already optioned for a movie. Says Buono: “In ‘The Wager,’ Grann tells a gripping story based on historical evidence, photos, and accounts, and brings together the whole story of what happened on the ship, including the shipwreck, mutiny, and potential murder.”
Taking years between publishing his books, Grann does extensive research, digging deep into the characters and events involved in each story. “He brings readers into the world that he’s researching,” says Buono. “And if he has any personal connection to the story, he includes that too.”
For his Avalon appearance, Grann will be giving a presentation on several of his works, with a special focus on “The Wager.” “He’ll have a slideshow that will include some photos that are not in the book, and he’ll share some really interesting background on how he wrote it,” says Buono.
Grann will also touch on his other books and take questions from the audience before the book-signing portion of the evening inside Avalon’s beachfront Community Hall at 3001 Avalon Ave., beginning at 7pm on July 21.
For more on Grann, his books, methods, and inspirations, check out our “Conversation with the Author: David Grann” in this issue.
Taylor Jenkins Reid
One of the most popular novelists working today, Taylor Jenkins Reid is a rare literary superstar – reaching heights of fame and recognition achieved by few authors today. Perennially on the New York Times Best Seller list, Reid’s books will surely dot the Jersey shoreline this summer as beach readers revel in her tales of fame, fortune, despair, intrigue, and romance.
With blockbuster books like “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo,” “Daisy Jones & The Six,” “Malibu Rising,” and “Carrie Soto is Back,” Taylor Jenkins Reid is popular with readers as well as Hollywood heavyweights like Reese Witherspoon, who chose “Daisy Jones & The Six” for her popular book club and turned the novel into a sensational prestige TV series. Reid’s latest novel, “Atmosphere,” was released to acclaim in June, and will be the main topic of her appearance in Avalon on July 28 at Surfside Park (2901 Avalon Ave.).
“I can’t wait to talk to her about ‘Atmosphere,’” says Buono. “Taylor Jenkins Reid writes everything from general fiction to romantic fiction to thrillers. She mixes genres a bit. What makes her books so interesting is there is almost always a twist. You think things are one way, and then something big is revealed – a love interest, a secret. Her books are real page-turners, you don’t want to put them down.”
With “Atmosphere,” Reid delves into a new literary universe. While “Evelyn Hugo,” “Daisy Jones,” “Malibu Rising,” and “Carrie Soto” were in a similar orbit, traversing the peaks and pitfalls of fame, “Atmosphere” explores a new frontier – literally.
Telling the story of Joan Goodwin, a physics and astronomy professor who joins the space shuttle program in the 1980s. “Atmosphere” captures the extraordinary ambition, risk, and relationships, in and around the program.
Known for the fully realized characters she creates, Reid was long drawn to the topic of space, and then the people who explore it.
“I think I’ve always been curious about weightlessness. Gravity is so foundational to the human experience on Earth that it blew my mind … that there was a place that humans had made it to that didn’t have gravity,” she recently told the New York Times. “But it wasn’t until my research for this book that I became fascinated by the inner workings of NASA — teams of people who come together to achieve the nearly impossible. It’s not without great risk, making it that much more impressive to me. I’m amazed by the courage and sacrifice of astronauts.”
To write the book, Reid dug into research, studying Apollo 13, reading NASA documents, and relying on retired NASA flight director, Paul Dye, who helped her with the technical details of her story. Still, beyond the physics and engineering, Reid wanted to tell an epic human-centered story with “Atmosphere.” “It just felt like time for me to write a very high-stakes, dramatic love story,” she recently shared.
If history is any indication, “Atmosphere” will be flying off the shelves this summer. “She has a real following here,” says Buono. “Especially during summer, her books are always on hold at the library. She’s very well-read in our community. Some of our book clubs have read her work, too.”
For her appearance in Avalon, Reid will speak with Buono in a Q&A on the Surfside Park stage before signing books. “We’re so excited to bring her to Avalon and have a conversation with her,” says Buono. “It’ll give our patrons a chance to hear straight from her – about her writing style, how she develops her stories, and maybe even what’s coming next.”
Books will be on sale at the event on July 28 from Beach Bound Books, and Reid will be signing only one book per person in anticipation of a large crowd. “We want to be sure everyone gets a chance to get a book signed,” Buono explains.
For her part, Reid enjoys these opportunities to interact with fans in person. “When I meet someone in person, I always love to spend a second talking to them, not just focused on signing,” Reid has said. “I want to make sure they know how much it means to me by saying hi and thanking them for coming.”
No doubt, patrons will want to thank Reid for coming to Avalon, too!
A Conversation with the Author: David Grann
Ahead of his July 21 appearance in Avalon, we had the opportunity to have a wide-ranging conversation with David Grann, journalist, award-winning writer for The New Yorker, and New York Times best-selling author of blockbuster books such as “The Wager,” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” – which was recently turned into a huge movie, directed by Martin Scorsese, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone.
Not surprisingly, Grann proved to be as insightful and eloquent in conversation as he is in books and stories. Read on to learn his inspirations, experiences, and lessons from a life spent exploring history, human nature, and truth.
The topics you write about in your books are so different from one another. How do you decide what you are going to write about?
It’s funny – I have certain stages I go through. I’m always looking, reading, talking to people. When I come across a story that piques my curiosity, there’s almost an instinctive quality to it. But I still have to go through several layers to decide whether I can actually write the book.
First: Is it fascinating? Does it open a world you don’t know, lead you down fascinating rabbit holes? Then: Are there materials to tell the story? I try to tell stories that get as close to people’s consciousness as possible – through diaries, letters, interviews, trial records, whatever it may be.
And then there’s a third critical question: is the story about something larger? I’ve spent five years on “Killers of the Flower Moon,” half a decade on “The Wager.” They’re fascinating stories – but do they tell us something about the human condition, society, justice, human nature?
If the answer is yes, then I commit. But even though I go through a rational process, it’s still kind of irrational. Ultimately, if the story gets its grip on you, and you can’t let go.
The stories you cover are quite deep and complex, and you research and work on them for such a long time. How do you live with a topic that’s heavy or hard?
It’s a good question. You spend so much time with the people you write about. You end up having conversations with them, going for walks with them, asking them questions. Often, the people I write about are no longer living, so I can’t interview them. You’re left with the records, the murkiness, the puzzles they leave behind.
For “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which involved so many members of the Osage Nation being killed for their oil money, I began to collect photographs of the victims. At first, I had a few on my office wall. Over time, as I learned about more and more of these deaths and killings, I collected more. Every day when I went into my office, I’d see their photographs. It was always a reminder of what the project was about – and I felt that was important. It reminded me of the purpose, of why I was doing this.
And like everything in life and work, you need ways to step away – whether it’s with your family or kayaking or going for walks.
I think as I’ve gotten older as a writer, and as our own world has become so turbulent, I find those moments of refuge important – just for well-being. And I think that would be true no matter what you do.
You’ll be talking about your most recent book, “The Wager,” in Avalon, how did you discover that story?
I had finished “Killers of the Flower Moon” and was looking for a new project. I sat in my chair waiting for divine intervention – but after weeks of nothing, I realized I had to be proactive. So, I started reading, researching, calling people.
One of the subjects I’ve always been interested in is mutinies – a distinct form of rebellion within military organizations designed to impose order. It’s a great way to explore rebellion. I was reading everything and ended up in an online archive in England, looking at an 18th-century manuscript written by a 16-year-old midshipman from “The Wager,” a young man named John Byron.
John Byron’s manuscript had this old, archaic prose. The text was faded, tangled – F’s were written as S’s – it was hard to read at first. I thought, “What is this?” But as I kept going, he’d have these descriptions that held me spellbound.
He described the storm around Cape Horn they called the “perfect hurricane,” the scurvy, the madness, the breakdown of water on the island – kind of like “Lord of the Flies.” And I realized it contained hints of this unbelievable story of survival, endurance, and the darkness of human nature.
And then I found out – only when I finished reading – that he was the grandfather of the poet Lord Byron, and his poetry had been greatly influenced by these events. That just blew my mind.
What else piqued your interest in “The Wager”?
I had to ask myself if there were other materials. And there were – competing accounts, journals, and logbooks that still exist.
You can read these books that went through storms, shipwrecks. It’s amazing – you bring them out, lay them on pillows, and they vividly tell you what happened.
And then I had to ask the third question: Would this story say something larger? If it’s just about survival, that’s gripping, but is that enough? Does it tell us something about our world?
A good story should feel timeless. Doesn’t matter when it took place – it could be antiquity or yesterday. It informs us about who we are, how we live, how we make decisions.
The more I researched, the more I felt like it was a parable for modern times – a battle over truth. The survivors are all battling over whose version will prevail. If they don’t tell a convincing tale, they’ll be court-martialed, even hanged.
It was also a battle over history – who tells it, whose version endures. It had all these rich themes. Like many of my stories, I didn’t know anything about it before I started. No preconceptions. I came to it fresh.
You begin peeling it back like an archaeologist. You’re digging through remnants trying to understand what happened. I was always surprised, shocked, in awe.
“The Wager” relies heavily on text from journals written by sailors themselves. How did those journals survive so many calamitous events?
Some were on other ships that were sent back. Even those ships faced hurricanes, some sank, some burned. But the documents were passed off.
“The Wager” documents survived – which is amazing since that ship sank. John Bulkeley, the gunner, kept a comprehensive journal. They must’ve salvaged paper and quills, because he kept a contemporaneous journal even while they were castaways.
He never explicitly says how, but we know they kept logs below deck. Naval historians told me they probably kept them in one of the tightly sealed casks – wooden barrels – that’s how they preserved them.
The book makes you think a lot about the nature of truth and how “slippery” it is and how much it relies on who tells the story and how they shape it.
Yes, “The Wager” was one of the clearest examples of that. Each castaway tells their version of the same events from their own point of view, trying to emerge as the hero.
Like all of us, right? But in their case, the stakes were higher – they were facing trial.
What’s fascinating is they rarely lie outright. Instead, they edit, burnish. Leave out the bad parts, highlight the good ones. And the others do the opposite.
By comparing their accounts, you figure out what actually happened. You get insights into their character. I think you get close to the truth through these competing stories.
I wanted the reader to be the juror. I have faith in readers. It was funny – even while writing, I’d get so invested in one version, then switch to another and feel totally different. That tension helped shape the structure.
Switching topics – what was it like to see your book, “Killers of the Flower Moon” turn into such a huge award-winning movie?
I’m a movie buff. So, when you hear Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone want to make your story into a film– it’s a thrill. I don’t live in that world, so it’s like, “Guess what, kids?!”
But what mattered most to me was the integrity of the story. I worked for years with Osage elders to tell “Killers.” I couldn’t have done it without them. It was crucial that the film crew build those relationships.
They did. The Chief, Geoffrey Standing Bear, was involved. Everyone was committed. That made it more authentic.
Books and movies are different mediums. Books are rooted in documentation – I’m bound by what people actually said or did. Film is visual, scripted, dramatized. So, you don’t want an exact replica. You want both mediums to move toward the same truths in their own ways. I think they did that brilliantly.
The story itself – so much of it had been erased from history. So, to see it live in books, movies, and classrooms – that’s what matters. These stories should be the beginning of conversations, not the end.
I hope people read the book, see the film, or go read an Osage writer like John Joseph Mathews, or a poet like Elise Paschen, or Charles Red Corn. That’s how knowledge grows.
The stories you research and relate are gritty, do they leave you feeling like people are just terrible, or somehow hopeful?
You know what’s funny? I think writers are, at some level, hopeful. You wouldn’t spend years telling these stories if you didn’t believe learning, reading, and thinking critically can make a difference.
I couldn’t do this if I didn’t believe we can grow from past mistakes. I cling to hope. Though yes, there’s often disappointment along the way.
Your career is so interesting, what advice would you give a young person who’s not sure what they want to do in college or career?
I always had an instinct to write, but I had no idea what I’d do. It took me years. I was a grown man before I had any success. I taught, traveled, did different kinds of writing.
So, my advice: Be open-minded. I’m a big believer in all forms of education, including liberal arts. You don’t need to have everything figured out.
If you’re lucky enough, try to find something you’re passionate about. Whatever it is – writing, trade work, anything – if you care about it, your daily life becomes more interesting.
Education isn’t just about outcomes. It’s about character. Who we are, how we think, the kind of citizens we want to be. We all have to work and put food on the table – but the measure of a person goes deeper than that.
If we view education as something that enriches us – not just a means to a job – I think we’ll all be a little more hopeful.
