Patrick Radden Keefe is a New Yorker staff writer and the award-winning author of Empire of Pain, Say Nothing, and Rogues. Known for his gripping investigations into power, corruption, and hidden histories, Keefe brings a masterful narrative style to every subject he tackles. Begin Festival Sunday with one of today’s most fearless and compelling nonfiction writers, as he shares insights from his acclaimed body of work.
Christian Sheppard is a professor of liberal arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. With The Ancient Wisdom of Baseball, he has written a witty and wise love letter to baseball with life lessons from Homer to Opening Day. Stories of Achilles, Jackie Robinson, Odysseus, and both the 2004 Red Sox and the 2016 Cubs are told with humor and inspiration. Christian will be interviewed by Rob Cocuzzo, author and former editor of N Magazine.
Jonathan Waterman is an adventurer, award winning photographer and writer. His many articles have appeared in Outside, National Geographic, and Men’s Journal. Having spent years as a ranger and mountain climber in Gates of the Arctic National Park, he returned to Denali after a hiatus to discover shocking changes in the wildlife and landscape. Into the Thaw, his sixteenth book, was published in November 2024. He will be in conversation with Patti Callahan Henry, another of this year’s featured festival authors.
Wright Thompson is an award winning senior writer for ESPN and the bestselling books Pappyland and The Cost of These Dreams. His newest book, The Barn, tells the shocking history of the 1955 lynching of fourteen year old Emmett Till, a child who loved Bo Diddly and comic books. This crime changed America with its impact on the civil rights movement. Mr. Thompson lives in Oxford, Mississippi not far from the Barn, yet until 2020 he knew little of its significance. The book is a result of how this could have happened and how he could not have known about it. The writer Luke Russert, a previous Nantucket Book Festival standout, will interview Wright Thompson.
Gather at Cisco Brewers on our final day of the Festival for great food, music, and conversation for readers and writers alike. Attendees may choose from delicious options for lunch, plus drinks by Cisco Brewers, Triple 8, and Nantucket Vineyards.
Shuttle available from the Visitors Services on Federal Street. No tickets required; pay for your own food and drinks.
