Daniel James Brown, the New York Times-bestselling author of “The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Olympic Games,” will speak and sign books at 7 p.m. May 5 at Smith Auditorium, Willamette University, 270 Winter St. SE. The event is a fundraiser for the Assistance League Auxiliary of Salem-Keizer.
“The Boys in the Boat” tells the true story of nine working-class boys from the University of Washington who emerged from the Great Depression and overcame huge odds to defeat the elite crew teams of the East Coast and Great Britain. At the Olympics in Berlin, they shocked the world by challenging the Germans rowing for Adolph Hitler. Brown seeks to bring historical events to life as vividly and accurately as possible in his writing.
The Assistance League Auxiliary is a nonprofit volunteer organization that provides services to those in need. Some of these programs include Operation Backpack, which provided school supplies for 8,500 local children in 2015 and the Independent Living Program for young adults transitioning out of foster care.
