Tucson Festival of Books

The Fight to be Understood


Let's listen to bestselling authors David Leaf and Jeff Pearlman as they examine flawed, complex individuals facing judgment -- public, personal or internal -- and follow their journey toward redemption or reinvention. (Unfortunately, David Gelles will not take part in this session as originally planned.)


Panelists
David Leaf

David Leaf is an award-winning writer, director, and producer whose most recent books are "SMiLE: The Rise, Fall & Resurrection of Brian Wilson" and "God Only Knows: The Story of Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys & the California Myth....

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Jeff Pearlman

Jeff Pearlman is The New York Times bestselling author of ten books, including NFL legends Walter Pay­ton in "Sweetness", Brett Favre in "Gunslinger," and Bo Jackson in "The Last Folk Hero." He has written about the ’80s Los Angeles Lakers in "Showtime,", the 1986 New York Mets in "The Bad Guys Won," and the ’90s Dallas Cowboys "Boys Will Be Boys....

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Books:
SMiLE
The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of Brian Wilson
David Leaf
Memoir / Essays / Creative Nonfiction
Omnibus Press
April 2025
ISBN 9781915841315
352 pages

Only God Can Judge Me
The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur
Jeff Pearlman
Memoir / Essays / Creative Nonfiction
HarperCollins Publishers
October 2025
ISBN 9780063304574
464 pages