David Grann kicked off his writing career as a journalist before he began writing nonfiction novels. He said he realized the stories he wanted to write were based on factual events rather than fictional accounts.

On Tuesday, Grann will speak at The Oncenter at 7:30 p.m. as part of the Rosamond Gifford Lecture Series. Grann, a No.1 New York Times best-selling author, will discuss his latest novel, “The White Darkness.”

The novel tells the story of Henry Worsley, a man who spent his life idolizing the 19th century polar explorer Ernest Shackleton. Worsley was related to a member of Shackleton’s crew, Frank Worsley. After Shackleton failed to cross the entire continent of Antarctica, Worsley set out to cross Antarctica in 2008 with two other descendants of the original crew.

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In his lecture, Grann said he plans to focus on the larger themes of his novel. Grann said these include a love story between a man and his family as well as questions regarding failure. He plans to use audio recordings and images taken by Worsley throughout his journey to help audience members experience the story.

Several factors were involved in Grann’s selection for this year’s series, based in part on the success of his previous novels, including 2017’s “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.” The novel explores the 1920s massacre of the Osage people, and the birth of the FBI and features founding FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover as one of its characters.

The lecture series is organized by Friends of the Central Library and previously featured speakers including Frank Bruni, Rainbow Rowell, Diana Abu-Jaber and Louise Penny. The series wraps up with novelist Colm Tóibín on May 7.

Joan Brooks, executive director of Friends of the Central Library,  said the speakers who participate in the series each year are selected during the summer by a committee made up of board members, librarians and others who are knowledgeable on current works of literature.

Peggy Fabic, president of Friends of the Central Library, said that when the selection committee picks its speakers, they aim to find a group of six authors who represent different types of writing. The committee tries to assemble a group that is diverse in as many ways as possible, with writing interests including fiction, nonfiction, memoir and graphic, among others.

The lecture series is about to celebrate its 25th season, Brooks said, and has grown since its inception. Fabic said ticket sales for the series grew during the first 15 years of its existence, but have since dwindled.

“In the past several years, we have maintained enough ticket sales to continue the series, but our sales have slipped,” Fabic said. “We are trying hard to attract a more diverse audience, including younger people, and have been more aggressive with our promotions this year, compared to previous years.”

Published on March 31, 2019 at 11:34 pm