Keith O'Brien at The Johnson County Museum

Join us on Wednesday, March 4th at 6:30 pm at The Johnson County Museum for an evening with New York Times bestselling author Keith O'Brien! Keith will discuss his new book, Heartland!

If you will not be attending the event, please use this link to preorder your copy for pick-up or shipping after the event. Due to an increase in shipping issues for our international customers, we can not offer shipping outside of the United States at this time.

A ticket includes entry to the event and a hardcover copy of Keith's new book.

Our goal is always for authors to pre-sign your copy of the event book before the event begins. Pre-signed copies of the event book are dependent on the time of arrival of the author.

We anticipate this will be a sold-out show. A ticket is required to attend the event. Doors to this event open at 5:30 pm, and the author talk begins at 6:30 pm. An optional signing/photo line will begin at 7:30 pm following the author talk. The length of the signing/photo line varies per event. Details for the signing line are continually updated under the Publisher Guidelines section.

We are pleased to provide accessibility accommodations for this event upon request. To arrange accommodations for this event, please email eventservices@wildgeesebookshop.com

Publisher Guidelines:

Signing/Photo line parameters are subject to change based on publisher preference. Any updates to signing parameters will be updated on the ticketing page prior to the event

An optional signing line will be held after the event. Keith will personalize your copy of Heartland, included with your ticket.

Additional copies of Keith's books will be available for purchase at the event.

Event Policies:

• Outside food or drink is not permitted at this venue.

• Photo/Signing line positions are assigned first come first served upon arrival of person and ticket scanned.

• A ticket is required for every person attending this event above the age of 2. This event does not allow at-the-door sales and individuals without a ticket can not be allowed entry.

• We love it when people share memories from their night but recording long-form video of the author's talk is not allowed at this event. Long-form video is considered to be any recorded video reaching a combined total of more than 3 minutes in length.

• By attending this event you are giving consent to be photographed or recorded by Wild Geese Bookshop.

• Can't make it to the event? Please email hello@wildgeesebookshop.com to arrange for shipping or pick up of your book. Due to an increase in shipping issues for our international customers, we can not offer shipping outside of the United States at this time.

• Books not picked up after 60 days are forfeited and can not be refunded.

About the book:

In the fall 1974, Larry Bird—one of the greatest players to ever pick up a basketball—was lost, and in danger of slipping away.

He had dropped out of Indiana University, spurning legendary Hoosiers head coach Bobby Knight. He returned home to French Lick, a tiny town in the second-poorest county in Indiana, and he got a job hauling trash.

It could have ended right there for Bird, were it not for two men: Bob King, an old coach with bad knees, and Bill Hodges, a man who knew what it was like to be poor and overlooked. In the spring of 1975, during one of the darkest chapters of Bird’s life, King and Hodges convinced Bird to leave French Lick and play basketball at Indiana State University, a college that couldn’t even fill its arena, much less compete with Bobby Knight. Then, while no one was watching, King and Hodges built a team of players around Bird who were just like him: they were castoffs and leftovers, ready to work.

Four years later, in March 1979, this unheralded team would put together one of the greatest seasons in American sports history. By the time it was over, more than 50 million people would tune in to watch the Indiana State Sycamores play in the NCAA finals against Magic Johnson and Michigan State.

What happened that night would change college basketball and the NBA. Perhaps more importantly, it would change the members of this hardscrabble team, binding them together forever. In some ways, their one shining moment would never end.

Drawing on exclusive, in-depth interviews with players, coaches, and staffers, New York Times bestselling author and PEN American award–winning biographer Keith O’Brien offers a stirring account of the mighty Indiana State Sycamores. With its unforgettable ensemble cast, Heartland is more than just a sports book. It’s the story of a group of young men who achieved the greatest feat of all: immortality.

About the author:

Keith O’Brien is the New York Times bestselling author of Charlie Hustle, Paradise Falls, Fly Girls, and Outside Shot. He has won the 2025 PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld award for biography; has been a finalist for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports writing; and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, NPR, and This American Life. A native of Ohio, he lives in New Hampshire.