Isaac Fitzgerald at The Brattle Theatre

Harvard Book Store welcomes Isaac Fitzgerald—New York Times bestselling author of Dirtbag, Massachusetts, winner of the New England Book Award—for a discussion of his highly anticipated new book, American Rambler: Walking the Trail of Johnny Appleseed. He will be joined in conversation by Saeed Jones—prize-winning author and Lecturer on Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Tickets include admission for one and one hardcover copy of American Rambler pre-signed by the author.

Note: Books bundled with tickets may only be picked up at the venue the night of the event, and cannot be picked up in-store beforehand. Ticket holders who purchased a book-included ticket and are unable to attend the event will be able to pick up their book at Harvard Book Store up to 30 days following the event. This offer expires after 30 days. Please note we cannot guarantee signed copies will be available to ticket holders who do not attend the event.

New York Times bestselling author Isaac Fitzgerald sets off to the heart of America, following the path of the legendary Johnny Appleseed on an epic journey that both takes him far from home and brings him closer to it.
“It’s a difficult thing, to separate legend from story from memory from fact.”
As a child, Isaac Fitzgerald was always captivated by Johnny Appleseed, drawn by family ties to the legend, his father’s larger-than-life stories, and a shared restlessness to leave home and discover what lies beyond. In American Rambler, he sets out, walking from Massachusetts to Indiana on a year-long journey to follow Appleseed’s path, turning a childhood fascination into a profound reckoning of loss and grief, ritual and faith, grimy gas-station bathrooms and scenic apple picking. A moving blend of memoir, history, and travelogue, American Rambler is at once an ode to the American heartland and an antidote to the breakneck pace of modern life.

Isaac Fitzgerald is the New York Times bestselling author of Dirtbag, Massachusetts (winner of the New England Book Award). He is also the author of the bestselling children’s book How to Be a Pirate as well as the co-author of Pen & Ink: Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them and Knives & Ink: Chefs and the Stories Behind Their Tattoos (winner of an IACP Award). He appears frequently on The Today Show, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Esquire, GQ, The Guardian, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, and numerous other publications. He lives with his wife and their two dogs on the North Fork of Long Island.

Saeed Jones is the author of the memoir How We Fight For Our Lives (Simon & Schuster), winner of the 2019 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction and the poetry collection Prelude to Bruise (Coffee House Books), winner for the 2015 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry. His poetry and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, New York Times, Oxford American and GQ among other publications. His most recent book Alive at the End of the World (Coffee House Press) won the 2023 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Poetry. Jones teaches at the Media, Health and Medicine program at Harvard Medical School and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His next book Home Out There, a memoir, is forthcoming from Washington Square Press. He co-hosts the podcast Vibe Check with Zach Stafford.

Masks are encouraged but not required for this event.

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