2019 Presenters

• DAVID BROOKS is a columnist for The New York Times and author of many bestselling books. His next book, "The Second Mountain: The Quest For A Moral Life," will be published in April 2019.

• J.D. VANCE is author of Hillbilly Elegy, a bestselling 2016 memoir about growing up poor in Appalachia. The book is soon to become a major motion picture directed by Ron Howard.

• WALTER ISAACSON is a journalist and author who has written biographies of Leonardo da Vinci, Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein and Henry Kissinger. Mr. Isaacson will talk about walker Percy's Theory of Hurricanes and Everyday Life.

• JESSICA HOOTEN WILSON teaches literature and humanities at John Brown University. Over the years she has emerged as one of the most popular presenters at Walker Percy Weekend.

• TOM KEY is an Atlanta theatre director and playwright who adapted Walker Percy's The Moviegoer and Lost In The Cosmos for the stage. He serves as Artistic Director of downtown Atlanta’s celebrated Theatrical Outfit He will speak on the meaning of Lost In The Cosmos for contemporary American culture, and the role of art -- especially theatre -- in building community in a fragmenting society.

• ROD DREHER is a West Feliciana native and author of two New York Times bestsellers, including The Benedict Option (2017) and his memoir about growing up in West Feliciana, and "The Little Way of Ruthie Leming" (2013).