MADISON COUNTY – Award-winning author and historian Douglas Brinkley will serve as featured guest at the 33rd annual Vive le Livre gala, the major fundraiser for Huntsville-Madison County Public Library.

The event opens at the Jackson Center, 6001 Moquin Drive on Sept. 26 at 6 p.m. with a cocktail reception. A gourmet dinner and keynote address by Brinkley will follow.

Huntsville Library Foundation is hosting the evening with Brinkley, a presidential historian and author of “American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race.”

Brinkley works at Rice University as the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History. He also contributes as a CNN Presidential Historian and contributing editor at “Vanity Fair.”

Brinkley has received seven honorary doctorates in American studies. Six of his books were named “New York Times” “Notable Books of the Year.” He authored seven “New York Times Bestseller” books.

His “The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast” received the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Book Award. Former First Lady Nancy Reagan selected Brinkley to edit President Ronald Reagan’s presidential diaries.

Brinkley received a 2017 Grammy Award as co-producer of “Presidential Suite: Eight Variations on Freedom,” winner of “Best Jazz Ensemble.” The New York Historical Society selected Brinkley as their official U.S. Presidential Historian.

Brinkley was born on December 14, 1960 in Atlanta, Ga. When Brinkley was eight years old, his family moved to Perrysburg, Ohio. After graduating from The Ohio State University, he published his first article in 1983 on the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners in America.

In 1980 at Oxford University, he completed research on George Orwell during one semester. Brinkley accepted a fellowship to attend Georgetown University to study U.S. diplomatic history and earned master and doctorate’s degrees.

Today, Brinkley lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and three children.

Founded in 1986, Huntsville Library Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization whose mission is to advocate for the library and to acquire resources that enhance the library’s value to the community. This team of dedicated individuals works year-round to raise funds for the library’s 13 branches to better serve Madison County. The foundation believes that a great library helps make a great community.

For tickets to Vive le Livre, visit huntsvillelibraryfoundation.org/tickets. For more information, visit douglasbrinkley.com or huntsvillelibraryfoundation.org.