Illustration by Jessica Turner.
Journalist Robert Wilonsky will interview Dallas native Lawrence Wright at an upcoming Downtown Dallas, Inc. event.
Wright will be the keynote speaker at the nonprofit’s 65th annual meeting and luncheon on Feb. 24.
During the conversation, Wilonsky — a Preston Hollow area resident and former columnist for The Dallas Morning News — and Wright will talk about the history and future of Dallas, specifically Downtown.
Wright is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and staff writer for The New Yorker. His books include God Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State and The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, a 2006 book that spent eight weeks on The New York Times bestseller list and received the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction.
Robert Wilonsky in 2018. Photography by Danny Fulgencio.
Wilonsky, a Thomas Jefferson High School alumnus, gained a reputation for being quick-witted and opinionated as a journalist at the Dallas Observer. He grew up in Sparkman Club Estates, and his family has ties to Dallas history, as he told the Advocate in 2018. For example, his grandfather knew Jack Ruby and Bonnie and Clyde, and his mother was the X-ray tech at Parkland when John F. Kennedy was brought in.
Downtown Dallas, Inc. is the main advocate, champion and steward of the downtown area of our city. The nonprofit works to create strategies, set goals and identify resources that improve infrastructure, enhance the economy, foster cultural inclusivity, develop innovation and technology and make Downtown a global destination.
Last year, Jennifer Scripps was named president and CEO of the nonprofit. She was previously the director of the city’s Office of Arts and Culture.
