Michelle Obama announces stadium tour to support 'Becoming'
(Reuters) - Michelle Obama announced a 10-city U.S. stadium tour on Wednesday to support her upcoming memoir “Becoming” that will feature what organizers called “intimate and honest conversations” with audiences.
FILE PHOTO: Former First Lady Michelle Obama speaks during the second day of the first Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. November 1, 2017. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski
The former first lady will kick off the tour in her Chicago hometown on Nov.13, the day “Becoming” is released in the U.S. and in 28 languages around the world.
Event promoters Live Nation said the tour would also take Obama to Los Angeles, Boston, Dallas, New York and other cities and stadiums with seating capacities of up to 23,000 that are also used for concerts by some of music’s biggest acts.
“I’ve spent the last year and a half reflecting on my story as deeply and honestly as I could, and now I’m thrilled to travel the country and do the same with readers this fall,” Obama said in a statement.
In a message and video on her Facebook page, she described the book as “the story of my humdrum plainness, my tiny victories, my lasting bruises, my ordinary hopes and worries.”
Obama and Live Nation will donate 10 percent of every show’s tickets to local charities, schools, and community groups in each city the tour visits. Tickets go on sale on Thursday.
Michelle Obama and her husband, former U.S. President Barack Obama, signed deals for a book apiece with Penguin Random House a month after Obama left office in January 2017. The Financial Times reported at the time that the joint deal was worth a record breaking $65 million, a figure the publishers have not confirmed.
A release date for Barack Obama’s book has not yet been announced.
Reporting by Jill Serjeant; editing by Diane Craft
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