"Shadow Divers" is the first book chosen for "OC Reads," a new program promoted by the Ocean City Free Public Library, and the author, Robert Kurson, will appear for a reading and book-signing at
2 p.m. Sunday (Nov. 9) in the library's Chris Maloney Lecture Hall.
The event is free and open to the public.
“OC Reads” is designed to bring people together through literature by encouraging them to read the same book and participate in discussions and other events centered on that book. “OC Reads” celebrates reading, literacy, and all that public libraries do.
Kurson is an American author, best known for his 2004 book "Shadow Divers," the true story of two Americans who discover a sunken World War II German U-boat 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey. In the tradition of Jon Krakauer’s "Into Thin Air" and Sebastian Junger’s "The Perfect Storm," "Shadow Divers" is a true tale of riveting adventure in which two weekend scuba divers risk everything to solve a great historical mystery and to make history themselves.
For men like John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, deep wreck diving was more than a sport. It was an addiction. Testing themselves against treacherous currents, braving depths that induced hallucinatory narcosis, navigating through wreckage as perilous as a minefield, they pushed themselves to their limits and beyond. But in the fall of 1991, not even these courageous divers were prepared for what lay 230 feet below the frigid Atlantic waters.
Kurson grew up in the Chicago suburbs. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin, then a law degree from Harvard Law School. He practiced real estate law, but quit to pursue a writing career. He was hired by the Chicago Sun-Times as a data entry clerk, a position which led to a full-time features writing job. In 2000, Esquire published “My Favorite Teacher,” his first magazine story, which became a finalist for a National Magazine Award.
He moved from the Sun-Times to Chicago magazine, then to Esquire, where he is a contributing editor. His stories have appeared in Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, and other publications. He lives in the Chicago suburbs. Shadow Divers is available through the library and for purchase at Sun Rose Words & Music, 756 Asbury Avenue and the Ocean City Historical Museum. For more info, call Karen Mahar at 609-399-2434, ext. 5238, or email
[email protected].
