Jon Krakauer with David Grann: Into Thin Air, Thirty Years On

Few writers have changed the way we read reality the way Jon Krakauer has. Thirty years ago, a storm high on Mount Everest produced the deadliest day in the mountain’s history at that time — and Into Thin Air, Krakauer’s firsthand account of what followed, became a landmark of modern nonfiction, read not just as reportage but as literature.

To mark the anniversary, Krakauer is joined by David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon and The Wager, and a writer equally adept at turning fact into pulse-quickening narrative — for an evening devoted to the art of telling true stories that refuse to let go.

With Everest as its axis, the conversation ranges from ambition and risk to memory, responsibility, and the long shadow a single book can cast. Krakauer reflects on what he witnessed, what he wrote, what time has complicated, and what still haunts him. Grann brings his own perspective on shaping real events into stories that grip readers without surrendering their moral weight.

Don’t miss the chance to hear two masters of nonfiction at work — writers who make the real world as riveting, unsettling, and unforgettable as any novel.