DALLAS \u2014 The annual Friends of the Dallas Public Library (FODPL) gala<\/span> takes place in O\u2019Hara Hall at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library on Thursday, October 25 beginning at 6:30 p.m. Lawrence Wright,<\/span> the Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose latest book explains Texas to the world, will be the featured speaker at this year\u2019s gala.<\/p>\n

Wright, who grew up in Dallas and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School, won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for The Looming Tower,<\/span> the definitive story of the rise of al-Qaeda. His ten books and four plays have explored religion, Scientology, Middle East peacemaking, twins, and Nicaraguan dictator Manuel Noriega. Wright\u2019s latest bestseller is God Save Texas: A Journey Into the Soul of the Lone Star State,<\/span> which weaves memoir, history, humor, and politics into a fascinating look at our state. \u201cIt\u2019s a testament to Wright\u2019s formidable storytelling skills that a reader will encounter plenty of information without ever feeling lost,\u201d said the New York Times.<\/span><\/p>\n

The gala will also honor Charlene Howell,<\/span> a longtime champion of libraries and literacy in Dallas, with the May Dickson Exall Award. The award\u2019s namesake campaigned for the establishment of the Dallas Public Library in 1899, was its first president, and hosted art exhibitions in the library that led to the founding of the Dallas Museum of Art.<\/p>\n

The annual banquet benefits FODPL, the nonprofit organization that has raised financial support and advocated for Dallas\u2019 twenty-nine libraries and their educational programs since 1950, when twenty-three citizens decided to \u201chold the City of Dallas accountable to expand and improve\u201d the Dallas Public Library system, according to the FODPL website.<\/p>\n

In 2016, FODPL partnered with the Dallas Public Library to present the Dallas Book Festival, featuring over one hundred national, regional, and local authors with 4,000 in attendance. The same year FODPL, along with Parkland Hospital, launched Books For Dallas Babies, which provides a copy of the bilingual book Read To Me\/Vamos a Leer, to every new baby born at Parkland.<\/p>\n

Other programs include ELL (English Language Learning) and GED classes, preschool story times, the Mayor\u2019s Summer Reading Challenge, and Storytellers Without Borders. All of these programs, initiatives, and events are free to the public. This year FODPL became a Crystal Charities beneficiary with over $750,000 in funding for the soon-to-be-built Vickery Meadow library.<\/p>\n