The Master of Legal Thrillers Takes the Stand in Vero Beach
- Vero Minute
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
Bestselling author Scott Turow found himself back at the center of the cultural conversation last year, thanks to Jake Gyllenhaal's turn in the Apple TV adaptation of "Presumed Innocent" which became Apple's highest-rated drama series and earned four Emmy nominations.
Next Tuesday, January 13, he will be at the Emerson Center for the Laura (Riding) Jackson Foundation's third annual speaker and fundraiser event, where audiences can "interrogate" the master of legal fiction himself.
The Foundation, under the leadership of executive director Sara Wilson, current board president Jackie Grady, and building on the work of past presidents including Charlotte Terry, operates from the preserved home of modernist poet Laura Riding Jackson on the Indian River State College Mueller Campus.
In fact, Louise Kennedy, my former English teacher at Saint Edwards's School, is a former PhD scholar who studied Laura Riding Jackson and was the executive director of the Foundation from 2020 until 2022.
Jackson spent the last 50 years of her life in Wabasso after decades of literary celebrity alongside figures like Robert Graves and Gertrude Stein. Jackson chose Florida as her retreat, living without electricity until 1989 in the 1910 Florida Cracker house that now anchors the Foundation's programming.
Since relocating Jackson's historic home, the Foundation has cemented itself as Vero Beach's foremost literary organization, with programs ranging from middle school writing camps to adult workshops and their annual Poetry & Barbecue event (March 28).
Turow brings experience from both sides of the courtroom to the evening. The former Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuted high-profile public corruption cases in Chicago for eight years before becoming a partner at the international law firm Dentons, specializing in white-collar criminal defense until his retirement in 2020. His fourteen works of fiction have sold more than thirty million copies worldwide.
The evening promises a wide-ranging conversation about Turow's dual career, including his perspective on watching Hollywood reimagine his work — first with the 1990 Harrison Ford film, now with the Jake Gyllenhaal series that's returning for a second season.
Tickets are only $60 and can be purchased here. And for the true fans, $250 lets you "serve time" with Scott and includes a reception and a signed book.
