Speakers

Jonathan Eig is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of King: A Life and five other books, including four New York Times best sellers. The New York Times hailed King: A Life as the “monumental” and “definitive” biography of Martin Luther King Jr. Eig’s previous book, Ali: A Life, won a 2018 PEN America Literary Award. His works have been translated into more than twenty languages. He served as a producer on the PBS documentary Muhammad Ali, which was directed by Ken Burns. The Birth of the Pill, Eig’s 2013 book, was produced as a play in 2026 by Chicago’s the TimeLine Theatre Company. His Lou Gehrig biography, Luckiest Man, is in production as a movie starring Glen Powell and directed by Richard Linklater. Eig began his writing career at age 16, working for his hometown newspaper, The Rockland County (N.Y.) Journal News and went on to work as a reporter for The New Orleans Times-Picayune, The Dallas Morning News, Chicago Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. He lives in Chicago with his wife and children. He is currently at work on a biography of George Soros.