Author Shares Insights at Sixth Annual Literary Gala

Through funny anecdotes and interesting insights on his three bestselling books, author Jeffrey Zaslow captivated the audience at Wednesday's Sixth Annual Literary Gala at Granite Links Golf Club.

The Gala, which benefits the Milton Public Library, hosts a different author each year. Zaslow, a Wall Street Journal columnist, penned "Highest Duty," "The Girls From Ames" and "The Last Lecture."

 Milton resident and friend Suzette Standring invited Zaslow to speak at the event and introduced him.

Before talking about each of his three books, Zaslow talked about his column, "Moving On," which he said is about life transitions. He has written about children, love and aging all while producing fascinating tales about people's lives.

Zaslow, who has three daughters, ages 14, 18 and 20, has even brought his family into the mix. Zaslow told the story about a column inspired by his middle daughter. After being asked to the homecoming dance and preparing, Zaslow's daughter was told by her date he'd rather skip the dance in favor of a friend's basement.

Seeing his daughter was thoroughly disappointed and a story idea, Zaslow found payback.

"I thought I could embarrass this kid in front of the 5 million readers of the Wall Street Journal," Zaslow said.

The ensuing column was about learning integrity and following through on promises, a topic that was disliked by the subject and his mother.

The bulk of Zaslow's speech centered on his three books. Each included inside stories and short video clips of the subjects.

First, Zaslow discussed "Highest Duty," the memoir of Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, the pilot who famously landed his disable plane in the Hudson River.

Zaslow said he was approached by Sullenberger to co-write the book, but had his doubts about writing 300 pages about a five-minute incident. Zaslow changed his mind after meeting the pilot, and eventually spent 200 hours with him.

According to Zaslow, Sullenberger was always ready to save lives.

"He had an urge to save people because he couldn't have his father who committed suicide," said Zaslow.

Zaslow also addressed "The Girls from Ames," the tale of 10 female friends from Ames, Iowa and their 40-year friendship. The idea of the book came after one of the friends read Zaslow's column about the difference between men and women's friendships and contacted him.

The book eventually became the biography of their friendship based on interviews, diaries and letters from the women.

The audience received an alternate prospective of the book as one of the Ames friends, Jane Nash, was in the audience. Nash briefly spoke about the intricacies of having a man diagram female friendship.

She also talked about the draft that nearly derailed the book. The women decided their friendship was more important than a book, and vetoed several parts of an early copy of the book.

"He was really in a tough position," Nash said of Zaslow. "It was 10 of us against him."

Zaslow ended with his most successful book, the co-authored "The Last Lecture," about the final lecture of Dr. Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon professor, who had just a few months to live after being diagnosed with cancer.

Zaslow, a Carnegie Mellon graduate, received a call from his alma mater informing him of the speech. Touched by the idea, Zaslow drove the 800 miles from Detroit to Pittsburgh to hear Pausch's speech for a column. From the column came national exposure, and eventually the book.

Not wanting to waste any of his final moments, Pausch held all of his interviews with Zaslow while wearing a headset and riding his bike.

Zaslow talked to Pausch for 53 hours, and wrote the book quickly so the professor could hold a published copy before he died. Pausch died two months after the release of "The Last Lecture."

Following the book's debut, Zaslow made a habit of forwarding articles and websites that mentioned Pausch. Zaslow shared that the last email he received from Pausch, just nine days before his passing, said, "Stop googling me and go hug your kids."

As Zaslow finished his speech before a standing ovation, he implored his audience to do the same.