Pulitzer Prize winning science writer Elizabeth Kolbert to discuss critical environmental issues
Pulitzer Prize winning science writer and New Yorker journalist Elizabeth Kolbert has traveled from Alaska to Greenland, visiting top scientists to get to the heart of the debate over global warming.
One of the nation’s most prominent voices on climate change, she discusses some of the most critical environmental issues facing the world today on Tuesday, Feb, 27, at 7:30 p.m. at the Moss Arts Center.
“An Evening with Elizabeth Kolbert” will be moderated by Town of Blacksburg Sustainability Manager Carol Davis.
Kolbert’s book about mass extinctions, “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History,” weaves intellectual and natural history with reporting in the field and began as an article in The New Yorker. The book was a New York Times 2014 top 10 book of the year and is No. 1 on the Guardian’s list of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time. “The Sixth Extinction” also won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in the general nonfiction category and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle awards for the best books of 2014.
Kolbert has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1999. She has written dozens of pieces for the magazine, including profiles of Hillary Clinton, Michael Bloomberg, and Rudolph Giuliani. Her groundbreaking three-part series on global warming, “The Climate of Man,” appeared in The New Yorker in the spring of 2005 and was the catalyst for her book “Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change.”
In “Field Notes,” she brought the environment into the consciousness of the American people, explaining the science and the studies, drawing frightening parallels to lost ancient civilizations, unpacking the politics, and presenting the personal tales of those who are being affected most — the people who make their homes near the poles and, in an eerie foreshadowing, are watching their worlds disappear.
Kolbert’s forthcoming book, “H Is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z,” grew out of essays originally published in The New Yorker and is slated to be released this spring.
Kolbert’s stories have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Vogue, and Mother Jones, and have been anthologized in “The Best American Science and Nature Writing” and “The Best American Political Writing.” Prior to joining the staff of The New Yorker, Kolbert was a political reporter for the New York Times.
“An Evening with Elizabeth Kolbert” is co-sponsored by the Department of English Visiting Writers Series. Support for this program is provided by the James M. and Margaret F. Shuler Fund for Excellence.
Related engagement events
Kolbert will participate in an open discussion with Virginia Tech creative writing students about her approach to journalistic research and writing.
Tickets
Tickets for the performance are $25 for general admission and $10 for students and youth 18 and under. Tickets can be purchased online; at the Moss Arts Center's box office, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; or by calling 540-231-5300 during box office hours.
Venue and parking information
The performance will be held in the center’s Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre, located within the Street and Davis Performance Hall at 190 Alumni Mall. Convenient parking is available in the North End Parking Garage on Turner Street and in downtown Blacksburg. Find more parking details online.
If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact Jamie Wiggert at least 10 days prior to the event at 540-231-5300 or email wiggertj@vt.edu during regular business hours.
