October 18, 2006

The University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum is proud to announce the second event of its 11th season, featuring journalist and author Lawrence Wright. His recent and highly acclaimed book, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, has been described as "not just a detailed, heart-stopping account of the events leading up to 9/11..an education, too, a thoughtful examination of the world that produced the men who brought us 9/11, and of their progeny who bedevil us today" (The New York Times Book Review, August 6, 2006). Peter Bergen, journalist, author, professor at Johns Hopkins, whose work has brought him recognition as an expert on global terrorism, will interview Wright.

Wright is a staff writer for The New Yorker and a fellow at the Center on Law and Security at New York University School of Law. He also co-wrote the screenplay for "The Siege", starring Denzel Washington, and is currently working on a script about John O'Neill, the former head of the FBI's office of counterterrorism in New York and a major character in The Looming Tower, who died on 9/11.

Wright conducted more than 500 interviews in five years of research around the world for The Looming Tower, ranging from bin Laden's best friend in college, reporters for Al-Jazeera, to White House counterterrorism chief, Richard A. Clarke. Suggesting that the events of Sept. 11 were not inevitable, his book describes the confluence of bad luck, chance encounters, CIA and FBI turf wars and dereliction of duty within the government that led to the tragedy and the current state of war. He spares neither Presidents Clinton and Bush and their administrations in their failures to stop bin Laden.

Taking the reader behind the scenes, Wright broadens and deepens our knowledge of the signal event of our time. By interweaving lives of four men: the two leaders of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri; the FBI’s counterterrorism chief, John O’Neill; and the former head of Saudi intelligence, Prince Turki al-Faisal, he reveals the crosscurrents of modern Islam and the birth of al-Qaeda.

What emerges is the frightening historical perspective of bin Laden that connects the words of the Quran that "death will find you, even in The Looming Tower" with recent history. Wright says bin Laden planned to "lure America into the same trap the Soviets had fallen into: Afghanistan...to continually attack until the U.S. forces invaded; then the mujahideen would swarm upon them and bleed them until the entire American empire fell from its wounds. It had happened to Great Britain and to the Soviet Union. He was certain it would happen to America."

The strikes on American embassies and the destroyer Cole failed to goad us to invade but he succeeded with the Sept. 11 attack of 19 martyrs to his cause. Wright traces the hard to believe transition of bin Laden from a shy youth, heir to one of Saudi Arabia's great fortunes, who loved the TV show "Bonanza" to a hero in Afghanistan fighting the Soviets to mastermind of events that now divides the world's nations and cultures.

Wright will be interviewed by CNN's terrorism analyst Peter Bergen, print and TV journalist,, whose most recent book is The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of Al-Qaeda's Leader. In 1997, as a producer for CNN, he obtained bin Laden's first television interview. The recent CNN documentary, "In the Footsteps of bin Laden", was based in part on his book.

As a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, Bergen researches and writes on the al-Qaeda network and the problem of global terrorism. His writings on terrorism have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME, and Foreign Affairs, among others. He is on the editorial board of Studies in Conflict and Terrorism and has testified on Capitol Hill. He also teaches in the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Event & Ticket Information

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Visit with University of Louisville students: 10 a.m., Ekstrom Library, Lower Level Auditorium, Belknap Campus. Discussion with Lawrence Wright, moderated by Tricia Gray, visiting professor of political science, College of Arts & Sciences.

The Kentucky Center
501 West Main Street
Downtown Louisville

5:00 p.m. Wine and Cheese offered by Brown-Forman, along with Carmichael's book sale in the lobby of The Kentucky Center

6:00 p.m. Interview with Lawrence Wright and Peter Bergen, Bomhard Theatre, set and design by Bittners' (Designing for the Way You Live)

Live taping with Louisville's NPR News Station: WFPL-89.3, KET: The Kentucky Network, and "The Spoken Word," a public radio series heard on stations across the U.S.

Master of Ceremonies is Forum Editor Keith Runyon of The Courier-Journal

7:00 p.m. Q & A with audience, followed by a book signing on stage. Carmichael's Bookstore will have copies of Wright's book, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 and Bergen's The Osama Bin Laden I know, available for sale at this event.

A $17 ticket includes the above three events. A limited number of discounted tickets of $5 each are available for U of L students, faculty and staff at the KCA box office --U of L photo ID is required.

8:15 p.m. Dinner with Lawrence Wright and Peter Bergen, hosted by the University of Louisville. A $100 package ticket includes all evening events, including dinner (Proceeds go to the nonprofit Kentucky Author Forum; $35 is tax-deductible.)

Tickets for this event are now on sale at The Kentucky Center. They may also be purchased by calling 502-584-7777 or 800-775-7777 or online at www.kentuckycenter.org

NOTE TO TV STATIONS AND PRINT MEDIA: Access to a live Kentucky Author Forum TV feed during the evening interview is always available through KET by contacting Duncan Hart at 859-258-7296.

Those who cannot attend the Kentucky Author Forum evening interview will be able to enjoy a recorded version free-of-charge at these Louisville Free Public Library locations:

• Crescent Hill - Oct. 30 - 6:30 PM
• Bon Air - Nov. 1 - 6:30 PM
• St. Matthews - Nov. 3 - 2:00 PM
• Highlands - Nov. 7 - 3:00 PM
• Southwest - Nov. 9 - 6:30 PM
• Iroquois - Nov. 20 - 6:30 PM
• Main Library - Nov. 28 - 6:30 PM

For additional information on the Library showings, call 574-1635.

WFPL 89.3 FM and Kentucky Educational Television (KET) will record the event for future broadcast, which will be distributed nationally to PBS affiliates nationwide, under the title: "Conversation with Lawrence Wright."

Tapes of past Kentucky Author Forums interviews are available through KET by calling 800-945-9167.

The Kentucky Author Forum series is produced by Mary Moss Greenebaum, with Associate Producer Melissa Bernstrom, and is sponsored by the University of Louisville, Brown-Forman, and The Humana Foundation, in cooperation with Carmichael's Bookstore, The Courier-Journal, Bittners, KET, Office Furniture USA, The Kentucky Center, WFPL-89.3, and "The Spoken Word".

Questions should be directed to the Kentucky Author Forum office at 502-589-2884.

624 West Main, Second Floor
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Phone 502.589.2884
Fax 502.589.4334
email KYFORUM@aol.com