King: A Life by Jonathan Eig Wins 2024 Edwards Book Award from the Rodel Institute

NEW YORK, Aug. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Rodel Institute is pleased to announce that Jonathan Eig's biography King: A Life has won the 2024 Edwards Book Award. The prize will be conferred on September 26 at the University of Virginia's Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, which is co-hosting this year's award ceremony with the Rodel Institute.

The Edwards Book Award is given annually to a book that contributes to the understanding and practice of democracy and American politics. Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, King: A Life provides a compelling account of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life-long fight for racial and economic justice in America.

The Rodel Institute's Lizzy McCourt Noonan, Executive Director of the Edwards Book Award, said: "Dr. King's writing has long been part of the Rodel Fellowship's curriculum. We hope this award will help focus attention on our desperate need for principled and inspiring leadership in America today."

Ian Solomon, Dean of the UVA Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and a member of the Edwards Book Award Committee, stated: "Martin Luther King Jr.'s example of leadership to bridge divides offers valuable lessons for all of us working to build a more just, equal, and loving society. It is an honor to welcome biographer Jonathan Eig and the Rodel Institute to UVA Grounds to celebrate Dr. King's life and Eig's brilliant book."  

Jonathan Eig is an American journalist and biographer. Eig's work has appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, The New Yorker, and many other leading magazines and newspapers. His previous books include Ali: A Life (2017) and The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution (2014). In addition to winning the Edwards Books Award, King: A Life won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for biography. Please visit www.rodelinstitute.org for more information about the Edwards Book Award, its selection committee, and this year's longlist and shortlist finalists.

The Rodel Institute seeks to strengthen democracy and public leadership in the United States. A nonpartisan center for leadership and intellectual growth, we help America's most promising leaders deepen their commitment to democracy and the rule of law and work together to address some of our nation's most important domestic and international challenges. For more information, visit www.rodelinstitute.org.

Founded in 2007, the University of Virginia's Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy empowers leaders to solve complex policy problems in a diverse and divided world. With a multidisciplinary faculty of scholars and practitioners, the Batten School offers award-winning educational programs and develops knowledge and solutions for humanity's most pressing challenges. For more information: www.batten.virginia.edu.

SOURCE Rodel Institute