Women’s Philanthropy Board to feature Alabama author and Pulitzer Prize winner

The Women’s Philanthropy Board of Auburn University will feature Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author Rick Bragg during its inaugural Summer Nights program on Thursday, July 22. Bragg will speak at 5:30 p.m. in the Woltosz Theatre in the Gogue Performing Arts Center and will hold a book signing immediately afterwards.

Bragg, a native Alabamian, often chronicles life in the south. In 1997 he published "All Over but the Shoutin’, "the first in a trilogy of family memoirs. A New York Times bestseller, the memoir recounts his mother’s heroic efforts to support and care for her three sons without help from her hard drinking, mostly absent, husband. Two additional memoirs, "Ava’s Man" and "The Prince of Frogtown," focus on the men in Bragg’s life: his grandfather, father and stepson. Bragg’s later works include "The Best Cook in the World" and "The Most They Ever Had." Bragg also wrote the authorized biographies of Jessica Lynch, one of the first women captured while on active duty in the U.S. military, and singer and pianist, Jerry Lee Lewis 

As a correspondent for the New York Times, Bragg was recognized for his coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing, as well as his account of the $150,000 bequest to the University of Southern Mississippi by African American washerwoman and philanthropist Oseola McCarty. He is also widely known for his monthly columns, “Rick Bragg’s Southern Journal,” published in Southern Living magazine.

Tickets and sponsorships are available by clicking here, and include a post-event buffet reception. For more information about WPB Summer Nights, call the Women’s Philanthropy Board office at (334) 844-9156.