FAU and Palm Beach Book Festival to Present ‘New York Times’ Best-Selling Authors in Boca Raton

Image: Oliver Stone, photo courtesy of Michael Segal; Chasing the Light book cover

Florida Atlantic University’s fifth Palm Beach Book Festival, featuring Oliver Stone, Garret M. Graff, Alan Cumming and Imani Perry, Ph.D., will take place on Saturday, March 12, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., in the University Theatre, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton campus.  Tickets are $25 per session and can be purchased at www.fauevents.com or by calling 561-297-6124. Parking is included with cost of admission. FAU faculty and staff tickets are $10 and all student tickets are free.

Perry, author of “South to America,” will jumpstart the festival with the first panel at 10 a.m. The session will be moderated by Leigh Haber, Oprah’s Book Club editor. Perry is the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University. Her other books include “Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry,” winner of the 2019 Bograd-Weld Biography Prize from the Pen America Foundation; “Breathe: A Letter to My Sons;” “Vexy Thing: On Gender and Liberation;” and “May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem.” Perry, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts as well as Chicago, and currently lives outside of Philadelphia with her two sons.  

Isabel Wilkerson called “South to America,” “an elegant meditation on the complexities of the American South — and thus of America — by an esteemed daughter of the South and one of the great intellectuals of our time. An inspiration.”

The second panel features Cumming with his book “Baggage” at 11:15 a.m., and will be moderated by Joseph Papa. Cumming’s many awards for his stage and screen work include the Tony, Olivier, BAFTA and Emmy. He is the author of two children’s books, a book of photographs and stories, a novel, and the No. 1 New York Times’ bestselling memoir, “Not My Father’s Son.”

Douglas Stuart, Booker Prize-winning author of “Shuggie Bain” called “Baggage,” “an intimate look at the making of a man, an actor, an advocate — and most importantly — a happy human being. A wonderful book that is funny, honest, fearless, and generous in its vulnerability.”

There will be a lunch break from noon to 1 p.m., with lunch available for purchase with tickets prior to the event. Lunch will not be for sale at the event, though there is a Starbucks and Chick Fil A on campus.

Graff, the third author, will talk about his newly released “Watergate: A New History.” The session will be moderated by Mark Thompson, CEO of The New York Times. Graff is a distinguished journalist and bestselling historian and he has spent more than a dozen years covering politics, technology and national security. Today, he serves as the director of cyber initiatives for The Aspen Institute and is a contributor to WIRED, CNN, and POLITICO. He’s written for publications from Esquire to Rolling Stone to The New York Times, and edited two of Washington’s most prestigious magazines, Washingtonian and POLITICO Magazine. Graff is the author of multiple books, including The Threat Matrix, the national bestseller Raven Rock, and the New York Times bestseller The Only Plane in the Sky.

 Stone will discuss “Chasing the Light” at 2:15 p.m. along with screenwriter Allan Loeb as moderator. This intimate memoir by the controversial and outspoken Oscar-winning director and screenwriter is about his complicated New York childhood, volunteering for combat, and his struggles and triumphs in film making. Stone is the writer and director of “Platoon,” “JFK,” “Born on the Fourth of July,” “Natural Born Killers,” “Midnight Express” and many other films.