Book Rap on McGrory biography by John Norris rescheduled for Thursday, Oct. 15

John Norris, author of a biography of legendary journalist Mary McGrory, will appear at an National Press Club Book Rap on Thursday, Oct. 15 at 6:30 p.m. in the Conference Rooms.

Club member Dan Balz plans to interview Norris.

The Book Rap for Mary McGrory: The First Queen of Journalism was rescheduled because it originally conflicted with the pope’s visit to Washington. Tickets for the original date are still good for Oct. 15.

Tickets to the rap are still available;members are $5 and the general public $10. Click here to purchase tickets.

After the Book Rap, which will include a question-and-answer session, Norris plans to sign his book. The event is a fundraiser for the nonprofit Club Journalism Institute, so no outside books or memorabilia are permitted. Books must be purchased through the Club and can be ordered online at the same time tickets are purchased. All sales are final and no refunds are issued.

Balz is a veteran political reporter and chief correspondent of The Washington Post. He is the author or co-author of four books, including two New York Times bestsellers: Collision 2012, and, with the late Haynes Johnson, The Battle for America 2008. He is a regular panelist on PBS’s “Washington Week” and is a frequent guest on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” PBS’s “News Hour,” NBC’s “Meet the Press,” and CNN’s “Inside Politics.”

Norris is the executive director of the Sustainable Security and Peacebuilding Initiative at the Center for American Progress. In 2014, he was appointed by President Barack Obama to the President’s Global Development Council, a body charged with advising the administration on effective development practices. He is also the author of Disaster Gypsies, a memoir of his emergency relief work. He has published commentaries in The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. He holds a graduate degree in public administration.

The late Mary McGrory was an American journalist who reported and opined on American politics for five decades. She was a nationally syndicated columnist, the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary and a winner of the National Press Club's Fourth Estate Award.