“Killers of the Flower Moon”

Author David Grann to speak at OCCC April 17

Oklahoma City – Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC) will host David Grann, The New York Times bestselling author of “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI” at 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 17, 2019, in the OCCC Visual and Performing Arts Center (VPAC) Theater. The lecture is free and open to the public.

“Killers of the Flower Moon” won an Edgar Award, was a finalist for the National Book Award and named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and numerous other publications. The book is currently being adapted into a major motion picture featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Martin Scorsese. Grann has written five novels including the bestseller “The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon” and his latest book “The White Darkness.”

The lecture will focus on “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which tells the story of the Osage Indians, who, in the 1920s, became the wealthiest people in the world because of oil under their land in Oklahoma. They were then serially murdered off in one of the most sinister crimes in American history. The case became among the FBI’s first major homicide investigations. The FBI sent in a team of undercover agents, including one of the only Native Americans in the bureau. They eventually caught one of the masterminds. However, as Grann documents, there was a deeper and darker conspiracy that the bureau never exposed.

Dave Eggers of The New York Times Book Reviews says, “[Killer of the Flower Moon] is disturbing and riveting… Grann has proved himself a master of spinning delicious, many-layered mysteries that also happen to be true… It will sear your soul.”

Grann’s work has appeared in New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic and The Washington Post. He joined The New Yorker in 2003 as a staff writer. Before that, he served as senior editor at The New Republic and executive editor of the political newspaper The Hill. Grann has master’s degrees in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy as well as in creative writing from Boston University. 

Audience members will be able to participate in a Q&A session during the event. A reception and book signing will occur immediately following the lecture. For more information, visit www.occc.edu/grann. The event continues the Paul Sechrist Signature Lecture Series. The series launched in 2014 with past speakers to include Francis Ford Coppola, Thomas Friedman and Bob Woodward.