The tables were turned during An Evening with Scott Turow, the third annual author fundraiser to benefit the Laura (Riding) Jackson Foundation. The Emerson Center became a courtroom where the jury, aka the audience, could interrogate the prolific author of legal thrillers.
While he wasn’t asked to “Swear to tell the truth,” the verdict was unanimous: It was a criminally good evening.
During a VIP reception, a small group chatted with Turow while enjoying hors d’oeuvres and a specialty cocktail, aptly named the ‘Verdict, Not Guilty.’ Later, the main portion of the evening began not with a gavel, but with a plea from Jackie Grady, LRJF board president, to the audience.
Grady highlighted the history of the organization, which was founded to preserve the historic ‘cracker-style’ home of poet Laura (Riding) Jackson. Now located at the Mueller campus of Indian River State College, the home serves as a tranquil community hub surrounded by a Florida-friendly garden.
The fundraiser, she said, provides vital support to continue the home’s preservation, while also inspiring local writers through literary programs such as writers’ groups, summer camps, workshops and poetry festivals.
“The creative writing arts are sort of under attack,” said Grady, citing the decline of writing instruction in schools and the rise of Artificial Intelligence.
“We really are trying to promote this art form within our community. Writing is more than just entertainment. It stirs feelings, it makes us think, it challenges us, and it really makes us human,” Grady added.
That sentiment served as the perfect introduction to Turow, a writer who has spent decades exploring the human condition through the lens of the law.
Turow was interrogated by Sara Wilson, LRJF executive director, who guided the author through a discussion spanning his books and their Hollywood adaptations, his dual career as a writer and attorney, and his concerns about the future of literature.
It was no surprise that Turow’s novel, “Presumed Innocent,” was the first topic on the docket. It was adapted into a 1990 film starring Harrison Ford and, more recently, into an Apple TV series starring Jake Gyllenhaal.
When asked how he handles Hollywood altering his work, Turow was pragmatic.
“Ernest Hemingway gave his advice to novelists whose novels are bought by Hollywood. He said, ‘You should go to the California-Nevada border. Stay on the Nevada side. Throw the manuscript over, grab the check, and run like hell,’” said Turow, admitting that he has learned to let go.
He acknowledged, though, that film and novels are very different media.
“Books work from the inside, and film works from the outside,” he observed. “I learned very early on not to try to control things.”
Wilson asked about the threat of AI to the writing profession, and Turow didn’t mince words, criticizing AI language models for being “trained by chewing up vast databases of stolen books.”
“The future of AI is transforming technologies literally being based on stolen words,” Turow said, calling what currently comes out of AI generators “dreck.”
However, he remained optimistic about the human need for storytelling.
“I don’t think human beings will stop creating, and I don’t think other humans will stop wanting to consume what they create.”
On a more lighthearted topic, Wilson asked about Turow’s musical acumen after she shared a clip of the “Rock Bottom Remainders,” a band consisting of famous writers including Turow, Stephen King, Amy Tan, Mitch Albom and Dave Barry.
Pointing himself out in the photo wearing a wig, Turow joked that his singing takes place “in the key of H.”
Toward the evening’s conclusion, Turow took questions from the audience, and offered his own counsel to the aspiring writers in the room.
“The muse, whatever mystical force it is that drives the creative part of our personalities, is not going to show up in her finery and ask you to dance. You have to sit down, start to work, and occasionally you find yourself inspired. Writing a novel is, first and foremost, a job, like every other job.”
The LRJF will host its 15th Annual Poetry and BBQ fundraiser on March 28. For more information, visit lrjf.org.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
