Killers of the Flower Moon author, David Grann, will be coming to SDSU on April 5 for a special guest lecture.
The lecture titled, “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Arc of Justice” will be held at 7 p.m. in the Larson Memorial Concert Hall at the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center on the SDSU campus.
The lecture will focus on the book and Grann’s journey of creating it, his initial interests in the story and the compelling need to revisit the subject matter after an initial fictional account of the story titled Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan.
There will also be a Q&A for anyone in the audience who wants to ask questions after the lecture, along with a book signing.
SDSU students and employee tickets are available starting Wednesday, March 27, in person at the Performing Arts Center (PAC). With box office hours from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. SDSU ID is required and there is a maximum of two free tickets per person.
General public tickets will be available on Thursday, March 28, and stay on sale into next week from April 2 until April 5 in-person at the (PAC) box office from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. There is a maximum of two free tickets per person.
Jason McEntee, the director of the School of English and Interdisciplinary Studies and one of the event coordinators, was following the release of the Killers of the Flower Moon film last spring.
“We knew David Grann was going to be in popular demand,” McEntee said. “He was already doing his Killers of the Flower Moon talk regularly, but we knew the movie would make him more popular… last May, we said we have to try and get him now, otherwise we’re never going to get him.”
McEntee worked with several of the school’s directors, deans and other entities on campus and in the community that all contributed funds to bring Grann to SDSU.
“We were excited to get him, he went and gave presentations in Deadwood for the SD Festival of Books last fall, and he said after that visit he was excited to spend some time on the east side of the state,” McEntee said.
McEntee also hopes that this event brings in people from outside the Brookings community.
“Doing something like this is a great way to bridge SDSU and our external communities, from the Brookings community to the tribal schools, and Sioux Falls,” McEntee said. “We thought this might be a nice way to get people together.”
The lecture on April 5 is a culmination of three community-read events that took place this spring.
“The conversations (at the community reads) were great, they were an hour-long each, and people just wanted to talk about their experiences reading the book and seeing the movie,” McEntee said. “The feedback was great; a lot of people were thankful.”
David Grann, the lecture’s guest speaker is excited to speak and connect with SDSU’s audience.
“To me, history and learning is a conversation,” Grann said. “I find it energizing in my own life, in my own work to be meeting with others… I’ll often learn from students and different communities, and I’m always surprised by the questions people ask, sometimes they give me ideas for new projects.”
Grann hopes that the audience will become more aware of the history and crimes committed against the Osage community after his speech.
“I wrote (Killers of the Flower Moon) to hopefully address my own ignorance and the ignorance of many other Americans who were unaware of this history,” Grann said.
Grann says his life has not changed much since the film’s release.
“I really just continue to focus on my books and research out in the field, although there were wonderful elements to come out of the film.”
“It was a remarkable experience to get to know Martin Scorsese, (Leonardo) DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone,” Grann said. “To see how they developed this project over time… to see that history be reverberated out further into this world was wonderful.”
Grann is known to tell untold and interesting parts of history that become forgotten over time.
“In this world, I’ve always been curious, you are a little detective, or a more insulting term would be a professional snoop… constantly listening and looking for stories,” Grann said. “I love to talk to different people, you listen and hear threads that plant a story, or you’re always reading and reading and looking.”
McEntee also co-taught a Western in Context: The American West in Literature, Film, and Culture course with Dr. Sharon Smith, the class spent time covering the book this semester.
The book explores the murders of wealthy Osage people that took place in Oklahoma during the early 1920s, after large oil deposits were discovered beneath their land and the creation of the FBI that was tasked with investigating the crimes.
Kayla Borchers, a senior at SDSU double-majoring in history and English, has been a part of McEntee’s class this semester and looks forward to seeing Grann’s upcoming lecture.
“It will be interesting to listen to Grann’s lecture and hopefully get a glimpse into his process when engaging with such sensitive materials,” Borchers said.
McEntee believes the tickets will go fast so if you are interested, get one while they’re available.
“Tickets will go fast, there are only 1000, so I encourage people, SDSU, to get their tickets on Wednesday (today) because I honestly don’t think there will be many left after Thursday,” McEntee said.
“We’re just so thankful to all of our campus partners and community partners and the South Dakota Humanities Council for making all of this work,” McEntee said. “We’re looking forward to his visit.”