Readers and writers, get ready to nerd out. Some heavy hitters are on board for the Downtown Dallas Inc. Annual Meeting this month.
The ticketed event is set for 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, at Thompson Dallas, the luxury hotel at 205 N. Akard St.
The keynote speaker is Pulitzer Prize winner Lawrence Wright, an author and staff writer for The New Yorker. Award-winning Dallas journalist and radio host Robert Wilonsky will interview Wright at the DDI event.
DDI President and CEO Jennifer Scripps said the gathering is a celebration of Downtown Dallas Inc.’s 65th anniversary.
“We are thrilled to welcome Lawrence [Wright] to his native city to help us celebrate DDI’s 65 years of work to advance and sustain Downtown Dallas, a city he has written brilliantly about over the years,” Scripps said. “We could not think of anyone better to interview Lawrence than fellow native Dallas son, Robert Wilonsky. We look forward to an insightful — and highly entertaining — conversation between these two accomplished Texans.”
The Legendary Lawrence Wright
Wright is a bit of a legend.
The author of 11 nonfiction books, his 2006 tome, “The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11” spent eight weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and won the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction. It was adapted into a Hulu series in 2018, starring Jeff Daniels, Alec Baldwin, and Tahar Rahim.
His recent published works include “God Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State” and “The Plague Year: America in the Time of Covid.”
Wright also publishes articles for Texas Monthly, is an accomplished playwright, and plays in the Austin-based blues band WhoDo.
The discussion between Wright and Wilonsky, a former columnist for the Dallas Morning News, will focus on downtown Dallas, its history, and its future. It will include lessons from Wright’s 1987 autobiography and his perspective on how downtown Dallas fits into the future of Texas and the nation.
Celebrating 65 Years of Downtown Dallas Inc.
While luncheon attendees will no doubt want to hear from Wright and Wilonsky, the Feb. 24 gathering is also an opportunity to celebrate Downtown Dallas Inc. and its accomplishments over the past 65 years.
Scripps highlighted some of the nonprofit’s accomplishments during a State of Downtown address in October.
The downtown area has plenty of big news to boast about.
Downtown is uniquely positioned to build a national profile, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said at the October State of Downtown event, touting the move of global financial giant Goldman Sachs to a spot between Victory Park and Uptown, incentivized to the tune of about $18 million from the Dallas City Council.
Dallas voters passed Proposition A in November, allocating a 2 percent increase in hotel occupancy taxes toward $1.5 billion in renovations and upgrades to Fair Park and the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas.
Additionally, DDI will be celebrating the recent announcement of Ambassador Ron Kirk as the first recipient of the nonprofit’s Groundbreaker Award. The honor recognizes a lifetime of achievement advancing Downtown Dallas.
Kirk, the first Black mayor of Dallas and a former member of President Obama’s cabinet, will accept the award during DDI’s Annual Meeting.
For ticket information, visit downtowndallas.events.
