Author Q&A: Jonathan Eig ’86
Posted on Monday, June 24, 2024
Jonathan Eig is a silver-level NU Loyal member and the bestselling author of six books, including his most recent, King: A Life, which won a 2024 Pulitzer Prize. Called “the definitive new biography” of Martin Luther King Jr. by the New York Times, Eig’s work was also nominated for the National Book Award and named one of the 10 best books of 2023 by Time, the Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune.
The book is the first major King biography in decades and the first to include material based on recently declassified FBI files. Eig, who lives in Chicago, discusses how his time at Northwestern shaped his career path, his process as a nonfiction writer, and valuable lessons he has learned along the way.
What drew you to Northwestern University and the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications for your undergraduate experience?
I was a Medill Cherub in the summer of 1981. Best summer ever! And after that I had only one school on my list. If I hadn’t been admitted to Northwestern, I don’t know what I would have done. I probably would have harassed the admissions office until they sent a cease-and-desist letter.
After graduating, you worked as a newspaper journalist for many years. How did you segue from that career path into becoming an author of nonfiction books?
It happened more or less naturally. I started writing longer newspaper stories followed by even longer magazine stories, and I eventually began to think I might figure out how to write a book. When I read Laura Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit, I saw how journalism skills could help writing history—if the journalist could learn to see the big picture and place her story in broader context. I thought Lou Gehrig’s tragic story had a lot of parallels with Seabiscuit’s story, and I decided to see if I could copy the Seabiscuit formula for a book about Gehrig. I worked on it for more than a year in my spare time before I got a book contract. I figured if I failed, if I discovered that I didn’t have the skills for book writing, I could always go back to my newspaper career. What could be more secure than a career in print journalism, right?
Congratulations on the success of King: A Life! How did your time at Northwestern prepare you for the experience of writing this novel?
For starters, I learned to think and write (in that order) at Northwestern. The two professors who pushed me hardest and inspired me most were Joseph Epstein and Leon Forrest, both English (not journalism) professors, incidentally. Both became mentors and friends. I also had the great fortune to attend a school with a strong Black studies department and to engage in challenging conversations about race, history, and politics with classmates, especially my dear friend Jean Marie Brown ’86, who remains a close friend and who read an early draft of the King book and offered feedback. And if that’s not enough proof of her friendship, she also introduced me to my wife (Jennifer Tescher ’92). At the time, of course, I had no idea that Northwestern was preparing me to write a biography of MLK. If you had told me so back then, I would have laughed at you. I think my professors would have laughed, too. I was not a great student.
What is something that surprised you—or might surprise other people—about the process of writing a biography?
On the one hand, it’s easy. Just follow along chronologically, cradle to grave, you’re in and you’re out, badda-bing, badda-boom. On the other hand, it’s impossible. Truly. The biographer can never fully understand and explain his or her subject. It’s an exercise in failure. The writer cannot settle for a list of dates, names, and facts. Leave that work to AI. The biographer has to ignore the impossibility of the task and try to find the spirit, psyche, or soul that compels all the action and shapes all those dates, names, and facts.
Is there any advice about your journey as an author that you have for anyone else aspiring to be in this profession?
Don’t wait for anyone else to give you permission. Give yourself permission. That applies to almost any pursuit. But in the case of writing, it means start writing.
What are your favorite things to do when you are not writing?
Traveling with my wife. Annoying and occasionally amusing my children. Jogging on the lakefront. Reading. Friends. Cubs games.
What has been a highlight from your book tour?
January 14, 2024, sold-out crowd, Apollo Theater in Harlem. That was crazy. A portion of the audience may have come for the music rather than the book talk, but let’s not get bogged down in details.
Explore other books on the NU Loyal 2024 Summer Reading List, featuring selected works by some of Northwestern’s esteemed alumni, faculty, and friends.