Saturday June 6, 2026
HARVARD CONNECTION: Author Brian Morra at the American Writers Festival
Overview
A free literary event co-presented by the American Writers Museum and Chicago Public Library. In depth conversations with diverse writers.
The American Writers Festival is back and bigger than ever. Two days, two locations. One free literary event in Chicago!
The American Writers Festival is a free literary event co-presented by the American Writers Museum and Chicago Public Library. It features in-depth conversations with diverse writers from across genres and backgrounds, all to celebrate the power of the written word. This year, we have expanded to two days and two locations.
June 6, 2026: American Writers Museum
June 7, 2026: Harold Washington Library Center
With a range of topics discussed and genres represented, the American Writers Festival celebrates the past, promotes the present, and inspires the future of American writing. Children's storytimes, photo booths, literary crafts and mini-writing workshops get adults and kids into the written word, with books for sale and authors signing them!
The American Writers Museum will offer free admission on June 6 and will be closed on June 7. The Harold Washington Library Center is always free.
HARVARD CONNECTION
Author Brian Morra
About Brian Morra
Brian is a highly decorated former American intelligence officer and a retired aerospace executive. He is the author of the award-winning Able Archers series of historical thrillers. Brian bases his characters on himself and on people he encountered as an intelligence officer. He also brings into play countries and places that he knows first hand in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. His books are based on real events but read like page-turning thrillers.
Brian has written numerous articles for national publications and is an on-air expert in the new Netflix series on the Cold War called Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War. He also contributed his extensive expertise to the newly released CNN/BBC documentary called Secrets and Spies: A Nuclear Game.
The first book in his series is The Able Archers and it introduces Kevin Cattani, a young American Air Force Intelligence officer, who is based on Brian’s own experiences. Kevin’s Russian counterpart is Colonel Ivan Levchenko, a Soviet military intelligence (GRU) officer. The Able Archers tells the incredible story of the very real nuclear war crisis of 1983. The second book in the series, The Righteous Arrows, was published by Koehler Books in April 2024. The Righteous Arrows picks up where The Able Archers ends and also incorporates the true story of the CIA’s role in supplying the Afghan rebels who fought the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
Brian was raised in southern Virginia and currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area and in Florida. He earned degrees from William and Mary, the University of Oklahoma, and Georgetown University. He also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.
EVENT DETAILS:
Date: Saturday June 6, 2026
Time: 4:00-5:00pm
American Writers Festival is Saturday & Sunday, June 6 & 7, 10am-5pm each day
Location: American Writers Museum
180 N. Michigan Avenue, 2nd Floor, Chicago, IL 60601
Registration: at EventBrite