Penguin Speakers Bureau
Biography
Tim Madigan wrote his first book in 1968 when he was eleven years old. Every week in the autumn of that year, he scribbled down his account of the latest University of Minnesota football game in a notebook. Sales were modest.
But a love of books, words, and writing never released him, leading hi …
Read moreTim Madigan wrote his first book in 1968 when he was eleven years old. Every week in the autumn of that year, he scribbled down his account of the latest University of Minnesota football game in a notebook. Sales were modest.
But a love of books, words, and writing never released him, leading him from his small-town Minnesota upbringing to a career writing newspaper stories and eventually books that were more formally published and found slightly larger audiences.
His first book, SEE NO EVIL: Blind Devotion and Bloodshed in David Koresh’s Holy War, was published in 1993, followed eight years later by THE BURNING: Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921. In its review, the New York Times called THE BURNING “a powerful book, a harrowing case study made all the more so by Madigan’s skillful, clear-eyed telling of it.”
Madigan’s most recent book, I’M PROUD OF YOU: Life Lessons from My Friend Fred Rogers, reveals his life-altering friendship with Fred Rogers, which began in 1995 when he profiled the children’s icon for the Star-Telegram. Fred was one of the first readers of Madigan’s first novel.
When not writing books or newspaper stories, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Catherine, being a dad, playing the guitar, coaching and playing ice hockey, and backpacking in the Canadian Rockies.
Check out Madigan’s website at www.timmadigan.com.
Speaking Topics
- Mister Rogers: Human Icon, Loving Friend
The world knew him as the wise, gentle man in the cardigan and sneakers who created a safe and loving television place for generations of children. But as Madigan’s experience illustrates, Fred Rogers the adult was just as extraordinary. Hear how an unlikely friendship came to be, and how the saintly and stalwart Rogers tided Madigan through long periods of great despair, including troubles in his marriage, debilitating depression, and the terminal illness of a beloved sibling. It was Rogers’ almost surreal ability to be present to his friend; to walk with Madigan with compassion, patience and wisdom; that led to greatest human healing. The story of Rogers and Madigan is thus a parable of hope, one that has inspired thousands of readers and live audiences across the nation.
- Mister Rogers and My Dad
When Madigan met the television icon in 1995, his marriage was in shambles, and he suffered from life-threatening depression. At the core of the journalist’s misery, Madigan confided to Rogers, was a lifelong sense that, no matter what he tried to do, he could never get his father to be proud of him. In an friendship as profound as it was unlikely, Madigan found in Rogers an older man who could finally bestow that blessing. “I am proud of you, and have been proud of you since first we met,” he said. But in a wonderful example Rogers’ otherworldly goodness, Rogers’ compassion also extended to Madigan’s father, a gesture that prompted an inspiring journey of healing for father and son.
Featured Book
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I'M PROUD OF YOU: Life Lessons Learned from My Friend Fred Rogers
"[A] luminous memoir; in times of grief or loss [readers] known which book on their shelf to turn to."—Publishers Weekly
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