arts & entertainment

The Laura (Riding) Jackson Foundation announces its 3rd Annual Speaker & Fundraising Event featuring Scott Turow on Tuesday, January 13, 2026.  The main event will be held from 6:30 p.m. 8:00 p.m. at The Emerson Center at 1590 27th Avenue in Vero Beach, Florida.  Attendees are encouraged to bring their own book for autographing immediately following the event.  A Happy Hour prior to the event for a select 25 attendees from 5:00pm – 6:00 pm will include reception, signed book and a ticket to the main event.

Scott Turow is a writer and attorney. He is the author of fourteen works of fiction, including Presumed Innocent and most recently, Presumed Guilty, all New York Times
bestsellers. Mr. Turow has also published two nonfiction books, including One L, about his experience as a law student. His books have been translated into more than forty languages and sold more than thirty million copies worldwide. He has frequently contributed essays and op-ed pieces to publications such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic. 

His works have been the basis for film and television projects. Most recently, in the summer of 2024, Apple TV+ released an eight-part limited series based on Presumed Innocent, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, which became Apple’s highest-rated drama series, leading Apple to order a second season. Other film projects based on Mr. Turow’s work are also in development, including Presumed Guilty which has been optioned by Warner Bros for David E. Kelley and J.J. Abrams (Bad Robot). 

In 1986, Mr. Turow became a partner in the Chicago office of Dentons LLC, an international law firm, concentrating on white collar criminal defense, while also devoting a substantial part of his time to pro bono matters. He retired from commercial practice in 2020. From 1978 until 1986, Mr. Turow worked as Assistant United Sates Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois prosecuting several high-profile public corruption cases. He has also served on a number of public bodies, including the Illinois Commission on Capital Punishment, which proposed reforms to Illinois’ death penalty system, and he was the first Chair of Illinois’ Executive Ethics Commission, created in 2004 to regulate executive branch employees in Illinois. Mr. Turow is a former President of the Authors Guild, the nation’s largest membership organization of professional writers, an Emeritus Trustee of Amherst College, and a former Trustee of the Poetry Foundation.

At the main event, LRJF will put Scott in the Witness Box and question him relentlessly!  Our host and audience will jointly act as a lead investigator. Tickets for the main event are $60 and ticket-goers will be able to bring their own book or buy one there for the book signing at 8:00 p.m.  Tickets can be purchased at http://www.lrjf.org

A select 25 Happy Hour ticket holders will meet Scott Turow prior to the event which includes a reception from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m, and receive a signed book and a ticket to the main event.  Tickets for the Happy Hour are $250 and can be purchased at http://www.lrjf.com

About Laura (Riding) Jackson Foundation

LRJF is dedicated to preserving the author’s home and nurturing writers of all ages through a series of literary offerings including writers’ groups, summer camps, workshops, and poetry festivals. The Foundation honors writer Laura (Riding) Jackson’s belief in the promise of language by creating community through the literary arts.

The author’s Florida cracker-style home is located next to Brackett Library on Mueller Campus of IRSC in Vero Beach at 6155 College Lane, Vero Beach. The historic house is open for tours on Monday and Tuesdays from 1:00–5:00 and the 2nd Sunday of the month from 1:00-5:00 from November to May, as well as by appointment.

LRJF has a Writing Center at 1914 14 th Avenue in Vero Beach where we host writers’ groups, poetry readings, teen and adult writing workshops, and our LRJF gift shop. The annual Poetry and Barbeque Event celebrates National Poetry Month each April.