Thursday will mark the 30th annual Ogden School Foundation Fall Author Event, this year featuring Ann Patchett.

“Ann Patchett is the author of ten acclaimed novels, including Bel Canto, Commonwealth, The Dutch House, and Tom Lake. Her tenth novel, Whistler, was released in June 2026,” the event’s website notes. “She has also written four nonfiction books, edited Best American Short Stories 2006, and collaborated on three children’s books with illustrator Robin Preiss Glasser. Several of her novels are widely beloved as audiobooks, narrated by celebrated performers such as Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep.”

Ogden School Foundation Executive Director Brynn Murdock told the Standard-Examiner on Monday that the fundraiser has been critical for the district since its inception.

“We started in 1996 with the incredible Ray Bradbury and for the last 30 years have welcomed a world famous renowned author to Ogden to promote literacy, both in our community and for our students, as well as fundraise to support Ogden School District students and educators,” she said.

Photo supplied, Ogden School District Foundation

In addition to Bradbury, past guest of honor authors featured at the Fall Author Event have included George Plimpton, Shelby Foote, Ken Burns, Amy Tan, David McCullough, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Anthony Horowitz and Sy Montgomery.

Murdock also gave a little insight as to how the Foundation picks its author each year.

“We have, within the foundation, an author selection committee who helps,” she said. “We’re always taking recommendations or requests from throughout the community, from our board, from our district — anyone that has ideas, we’re always taking ideas. We take those through our author selection committee. We have a few literary agents that we work with to kind of help us go through that process. And then because this is a fundraiser, we have an incredibly generous donor who helps cover the cost so that we can bring in an amazing author that allows us to still have this be a fundraising event.”

She said that a lot of work also goes into making the venue — in this case, the Ogden Eccles Conference Center — really stand out for Thursday’s keynote speech.

“As always, we have our incredible decorating committee, which is a group of volunteers,” she said. “These ladies have been meeting since the spring. They’ve recreated different scenes in (Patchett’s) books throughout the room. Ann is the owner of Parnassus Books, which is an independently owned bookstore in Nashville. They’re just recreating everything that is tied to Ann, so the decorations will be incredible.”

According to a press release on the event, “the celebration also includes a student writing contest inspired by Patchett’s book These Precious Days. Winners will be recognized at the gala, receive a $100 award and a signed book, and have the opportunity to meet Patchett.”

Murdock said 10 winners from the district’s high schools will be recognized at Thursday evening’s gala but noted there will be a major deviation to recent Fall Author Events. In the past, authors have met with the essay winners the day after the main gala and also have spoken before an assembly of Ogden School District students; however, Patchett will be unable to due to scheduling conflicts.

However, Murdock said that there is another author who will be addressing students in the coming days.

“We worked with our district librarians to find out who one of the most checked out the authors that our junior high, and upper-level elementary students are reading the most right now, and that is Brandon Mull,” she said. “The following week on Oct. 6, we are getting to bring in Brandon Mull. We’re busing in 900 students to Ogden High School, mainly sixth and seventh grade students. And with Brandon Mull, we’ve partnered with Utah Humanities and Operation Literacy, and they’re doing it as what’s called a book drop. He’s going to do the assembly, and then every student — all 900 students — will leave with a signed copy of his newest book to take home and read and have for themselves.”

She said being able to bring in double the authors in the span of a few days does a lot for the event’s mission of boosting literacy in the district.

“We’re really excited that we’re able to help bring in someone that is an adult author that our community is so passionate about, and then also bring in a YA (young adult) author who is a favorite for these students to hear from him and have a book of their own,” she said. “And we feel like that’s helping us expand our mission even more.”

With the Fall Author Event celebrating 30 years, Murdock said that the longevity of this event has come down to a community that cares about literacy.

“We really have a community — both philanthropists, community members, educators — within the district who have really bought in on this, and I believe it’s become a staple within our community,” she said.  “I think it’s just helped bring this community focus on literacy, on coming together, on celebrating as a community, celebrating not only literacy, but celebrating the Ogden School District and our incredible educators and trying to support our students. There’s something magic about the event that helps bring us all together, focus on the good, especially in a world that can seem divided. This is just a way for us to come together, help students, and hopefully leave feeling uplifted having heard from an amazing author and recommitted to building our community.”

For more information on the Ogden School Foundation Fall Author Event, visit https://www.ogdenschoolfoundation.org/o/ogdenschoolfoundation/page/fall-author-event.