PORT ANGELES — The author of “The Boys in the Boat” — which chronicles the legendary 1936 U.S. men’s Olympic eight-oar rowing team and its gold medal performance at the Olympic Games in Berlin — will be in Port Angeles this weekend to participate in various activities.
Best-selling author Daniel James Brown from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday will participate in the Olympic Peninsula Rowing Association’s Kids in the Boat Day — a raffle, fundraiser and book signing at the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St.
He will be available to sign copies of his book about the crew from the University of Washington.
Judy Rantz Willman, daughter of 1936 gold medalist Joe Rantz of Sequim; John Halberg, Olympic Peninsula Rowing Association founder and president emeritus of OPRA; and Thomas Herschmiller, an Olympic rowing silver medalist, also will be on hand to greet the public.
This event is free and open to the public from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Kids are welcome to attend but must be accompanied by an adult if younger than 12.
Fun-filled activities for all ages include crafting driftwood art, trying out a rowing machine, face painting, rowing bingo and door prizes.
For more information, visit www.oprarowing.org.
Then at 7 p.m. Saturday, Brown will speak about his writing career in the Port Angeles High School auditorium, 304 E. Park Ave.
Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free.
Brown will be joined on stage by Willman, who will add to the discussion.
After the discussion, Brown will take questions from the audience and sign copies of his books.
Copies also will be available for purchase on-site.
The discussion is organized by the North Olympic Library System’s Clallam County Reads book club as part of a series of free, educational and community-building events and programs centered around the themes explored in “The Boys in the Boat.”
Clallam County Reads is supported by Friends of the Library groups in Port Angeles, Sequim, Forks and Clallam Bay.
For more information about the Clallam County Reads program series and book club, email [email protected] or call the Port Angeles Library at 360-417-8500.
Brown also spoke at Chimacum High School on Thursday evening for the 2016 Huntingford Humanities Lecture, sponsored by the Jefferson County Library.
The Huntingford Humanities Lecture was established in 2001 in memory of Sara L. Huntingford, who was a longtime supporter of the Jefferson County Library.
Brown’s book, according to his website, shines a spotlight on the members of the rowing team — sons of loggers, shipyard workers and farmers from the American West who took on and defeated successive echelons of privilege and power.
They vanquished the sons of bankers and senators rowing for elite eastern universities, and the sons of British aristocrats rowing for Oxford and Cambridge.
Their illustrious rise ended in an extraordinary race in Berlin that stunned the Nazi state as they rowed for gold in front of Adolf Hitler.
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Features Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or at [email protected] peninsuladailynews.com.
