Jonathan Eig

Pulitzer Prize winner & bestselling author, “King: A Life”

Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Address

Thursday, January 9, 2025, 6 p.m.
McCrary Theatre, Center for the Arts

In hallowing Martin Luther King Jr., we have hollowed him. We have replaced his radical vision for justice with a romantic image of a man who stands for little more than love and peace. For the past seven years, Jonathan Eig has traveled across the country, meeting the people who knew King personally, recording their stories and learning about the real MLK — the complicated one, the flawed one, the radical one, the one we really need in today’s bitter divided world.

Eig is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “King: A Life.” He’s the author of six books, four of them New York Times bestsellers. The New York Times hailed “King: A Life” as the “definitive” biography of Martin Luther King Jr. The book was awarded the New York Historical Society’s 2024 Barbara and David Zalaznick Book Prize, which is presented annually to the nation’s best work of history or biography. “King” was also nominated for the National Book Award. Eig’s previous book, “Ali: A Life,” won a 2018 PEN America Literary Award. His works have been translated into more than 20 languages.

Admission: $15 or Elon ID. Tickets available beginning December 2 at ElonTickets.com.