From the Morristown Festival of Books:
The Morristown Festival of Books (MFOB) is thrilled to welcome Malcolm Gladwell, author of multiple New York Times bestsellers, including Outliers and The Tipping Point, and host of the podcast Revisionist History as its 2026 Keynote Speaker. Gladwell will visit Morristown just days after the publication of his highly anticipated new book The American Way of Killing.
On Friday, Oct. 9, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. at the Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC) in Morristown, Gladwell will get to the heart of America’s gun violence crisis through a series of riveting stories. Mark your calendars now for this timely and vital discussion with one of the great thinkers of our time.
From The Tipping Point to Blink to his podcast episodes, Malcolm Gladwell has returned again and again to the topics of crime, policing, and punishment. In The American Way of Killing, he delves deeply into our nation’s epidemic of lethal violence, asking: Where did America’s violence problem come from? And, why has it proven so difficult to address?
The American Way of Killing is an argument for looking in unexpected places when trying to understand this complex issue. Gladwell explores the American “peculiarity”—how the world’s wealthiest country came to suffer from a problem typically only seen in the world’s poorest countries—in just the way his readers expect: Through original interviews, archival and social science research, and his trademark insight.
In a sweeping narrative, Gladwell travels from a shooting range in North Carolina, to the South Side of Chicago, to an old plantation house in Alabama, painting a picture of a country that does not understand its most pressing social problem, and as result, does not understand how to fix it.
Tickets go on sale on Monday, July 13, at noon. Purchase online or call the MPAC box office at 973-539-8008. Tickets are $68 for general admission (MPAC All-In pricing includes all service fees). Each ticket also includes a signed copy of The American Way of Killing ($34 value). This fundraiser event helps underwrite the remarkable free offerings of MFOB’s all-day Saturday Festival, which features the opportunity to interact with scores of authors.
The Morristown Festival of Books is generously sponsored by The Family Wealth Group at Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management. Our Keynote Event is sponsored by the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation as well as Special Event Sponsor, Valley Bank.
About the Saturday Book Festival
The free all-day Main Festival takes place on Saturday, Oct. 10, and has something for everyone. More than 85 award-winning and bestselling authors will speak and answer questions at five venues, all within walking distance of each other along South Street in historic Morristown. Book sales and signings will take place on the grounds of the historic Vail Mansion.
KidFest is an activity-filled event where kids meet their favorite authors, get their books signed, and enjoy crafts, face painting, and more.
About the Keynote Author
Malcolm Gladwell is the author of eight New York Times bestsellers: The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, David and Goliath, Talking to Strangers, The Bomber Mafia, and Revenge of the Tipping Point. He is also the co-founder of Pushkin Industries, an audio-content company that produces Revisionist History, among other podcasts and audiobooks. He was born in England, raised in Canada, and lives outside New York City with his family and a cat named Biggie Smalls.
The Morristown Festival of Books is a fund of the Community Foundation of New Jersey, a nonprofit corporation.
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