James Patterson

×

Expand

Stephanie Diani

James Patterson

James Patterson claims to be the world's best-selling author; Business Insider agrees he has been that, at least since 2001. (Shhhh, don't tell Shakespeare.) What is not in doubt is that James Patterson is the world's leading generator of James Patterson content. This year he continues that trend with the release of his memoir, James Patterson by James Patterson: The Stories of My Life. Copies of the book will be given free to all attendees of this talk (moderated by Barry Alvarez) as part of the Wisconsin Book Festival. Did Shakespeare ever do that?

media release: How did a kid whose dad lived in the poorhouse become the most successful storyteller in the world?

·         On the morning he was born, he nearly died. 

·         Growing up, he didn’t love to read.  That changed.

·         He worked at a mental hospital in Massachusetts, where he met the singer James Taylor and the            poet Robert Lowell.  

·         While he toiled in advertising hell, James wrote the ad jingle line “I’m a Toys ‘R’ Us Kid.”

·         He once watched James Baldwin and Norman Mailer square off to trade punches at a party.

·         He’s only been in love twice.  Both times are amazing.

·         Dolly Parton once sang “Happy Birthday” to James over the phone.  She calls him J.J., for                        Jimmy James. 

·         Three American presidents have invited him to golf with them.

How did a boy from small-town New York become the world’s most successful writer? How does he do it? He has always wanted to write the kind of novel that would be read and reread so many times that the binding breaks and the book literally falls apart. As he says, “I’m still working on that one.”

James Patterson by James Patterson is the most anticipated memoir of 2022.

Doors open at 6 p.m. Copies of James Patterson by James Patterson will be distributed for free to all attendees. The event is free and open to the public.

**NO ADVANCE TICKETS ARE REQUIRED**

James Patterson is the world’s bestselling author. His enduring fictional characters and series include Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Michael Bennett, Maximum Ride, Middle School, and Ali Cross, along with such acclaimed works of narrative nonfiction as Walk in My Combat Boots, E.R. Nurses, and his autobiography, James Patterson by James Patterson. Bill Clinton (The President Is Missing) and Dolly Parton (Run, Rose, Run) are among his notable literary collaborators. For his prodigious imagination and championship of literacy in America, Patterson was awarded the 2019 National Humanities Medal. The National Book Foundation presented him with the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, and he is also the recipient of an Edgar Award and nine Emmy Awards. He lives in Florida with his family.