Author and journalist Paul Kix’s work has appeared in The New Yorker, GQ, ESPN, The Wall Street Journal and more. His first book, The Saboteur, was a nonfiction bestseller about the amazing thrilling true-life story of Robert de La Rochefoucauld, a member of the French aristocracy who became a resistance fighter during World War II. The 2023 film, The Accidental Getaway Driver, is based on Kix’s thrilling 2017 feature article for GQ about a man abducted by three prison escapees.

His newest book, You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live, will be released May 2. The deeply researched book takes readers, in ways never explored before, behind the scenes of the momentous 1963 Birmingham Campaign – 10 weeks that shaped the course of the Civil Rights Movement and the future of America. In a starred review, Publisher’s Weekly said of the book: “Kix makes a persuasive case that Birmingham saved a floundering organization and galvanized the Kennedy administration to commit to civil rights. Readers will be riveted from the first page to the last.”

Kix grew up on a farm in Iowa, graduated from Iowa State University, and now lives in Connecticut with his wife and three children.

Books will be available to purchase before and after the program courtesy of Beaverdale Books.