Event Timeline
\n6:00pm-6:40pm- Auth or Talk
\n6:40pm-7:00pm- Q &\; A
\n7:00pm-8:00pm- Book Sign ing*
\n*Copies of Brendan's works will be available for purchase fro m Brain Lair Books.
\nFind copies of Brendan's book(s) in our library catalog
\nBrendan Nicholaus Slocumb w as raised in Fayetteville\, North Carolina. He is a graduate of the Univer sity of North Carolina at Greensboro with a degree in music education\, co ncentrations on Violin and Viola. For the past two decades\, he has been a public and private school music educator from kindergarten through twelft h grade\, teaching general music\, orchestra and guitar ensembles. His stu dents were often chosen for district and regional orchestras. In 2005\, Br endan was named Teacher of the Year for Robert E. Lee High School\; he has been named to Who&rsquo\;s Who of American teachers\, and is a Nobel Teac her of distinction. Brendan also serves as an educational consultant for t he Kennedy Center in Washington\, D.C.
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Music has always play
ed a major part of Brendan&rsquo\;s life. He believes that it&rsquo\;s a l
ife-saving force\, and a gift we should always offer our children. When he
was nine\, he started playing violin through a public school music progra
m. Friends he grew up with are today sitting in jail\; when they were out
running the streets\, he was in rehearsals. When they were breaking into p
eople&rsquo\;s houses\, he was practicing Dvorak and Mozart. His violin op
ened the door to opportunity\, and he ran through it. Since then\, Brendan
has performed with the Washington Metropolitan Symphony\, the McLean Symp
hony\, the Prince George&rsquo\;s Philharmonic\, and the Alexandria Sympho
ny. He has served as the concertmaster for the NOVA-Annandale Symphony Orc
hestra and regularly performs chamber music with members of the Alexandria
Chamber Music Society. He maintains a private music studio teaching lesso
ns to students on violin\, guitar and piano. Brendan believes that everyon
e can learn to appreciate and love music\, and that it can be a new way of
communicating\, building bonds\, and connecting with people who may look\
, sound\, or speak differently.
In 2022\, Brendan published his fi rst novel\, The Violin Conspiracy (Anchor Books)\, a GMA Book Club Pick\, about a young man who discovers that his family&rsquo\;s old violin is a S tradivarius\, which launches him into classical music stardom. On the eve of the biggest music competition in the world\, someone steals the violin and he must get it back. In 2023\, he published his second novel\, Symphon y of Secrets (Anchor Books)\, about a music historian who discovers that t he world&rsquo\;s greatest composer may have stolen the music from a neuro divergent Black woman &ndash\; and the powers-that-be will do anything to silence the historian. Brendan&rsquo\;s third book is The Dark Maestro (Ma y 2025) about a young Black musical virtuoso at the peak of his career who &rsquo\;s forced into hiding when his family runs afoul of a ruthless crim inal organization&mdash\;until he fights back\, using music to bring his e nemies to justice.
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