David Gessner, an award-winning author and a professor of creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, will discuss “Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner and the Future of the American West” on Oct. 1 as the second lecturer in the Montana State University College of Letters and Science’s Western Lands and Peoples: Perspectives on the American West Lecture Series.
Gessner’s lecture, which is free and open to the public, is set for 6 p.m. at the Museum of the Rockies’ Hager Auditorium.
The American West lecture series features experts from around the country discussing the history, literature and culture of the West; issues affecting the wildlife and fisheries of the region; and the West’s geography, geology and resources.
Gessner is an award-winning author of several books, including “Return of the Osprey,” which was chosen by the Boston Globe as one of the top 10 nonfiction books of the year and by the Book-of-the-Month Club as one of its top books of the year.
His most recent book, “All the Wild That Remains,” was published earlier this year by W. W. Norton & Company. In its book review, Publisher’s Weekly said that, “Gessner writes with a vividness that brings the serious ecological issues and the beauty of the land into to sharp relief. This urgent and engrossing work of journalism is sure to raise ecological awareness and steer readers to books by the authors whom it references.”
Gessner’s many awards include the 2012 Reed Environmental Writing Award from the Southern Environmental Law Center for his book “The Tarball Chronicles,” a book about the impacts of the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Gessner’s talk will be preceded by a reception at 5:15 p.m. in the museum lobby where a selection of Gessner’s books will be available for purchase. Gessner will be available to sign books before and after the lecture.
The Western Lands and Peoples: Perspectives on the American West Lecture Series is cosponsored by the Burton K. Wheeler Center and is part of the college’s Western Lands and Peoples Initiative, a collection of programs and events highlighting interdisciplinary research within the College of Letters and Science that is focused on the places and peoples of the Western United States and Canada.
