Northwest College

Renowned author and conservationist Terry Tempest Williams will discuss her latest book The Hour of Land at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 17, in the Nelson Performing Arts auditorium. 

Following a short reading, Williams will be joined on stage by moderator Eric Atkinson, assistant professor of Biology, to talk about her work and advocacy for public lands. The event is free and open to the public.

Published in 2016, The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks features 12 carefully chosen National Parks – from Yellowstone in Wyoming to Acadia in Maine to Big Bend in Texas – and illuminates the grandeur of each place. Part memoir and part natural history, Williams considers what it means to shape a landscape with its own evolutionary history into something of our making.

Best known for the environmental classic Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, Williams has been called a “citizen writer” and is a fierce advocate for freedom of speech, public lands, and environmental issues. She has testified before Congress, been a guest at the White House, camped in the remote regions of Utah and Alaska wildernesses, and worked as "a barefoot artist" in Rwanda.

Williams is also the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Western American Literature Association; the Wallace Stegner Award given by The Center for the American West; and the Sierra Club’s John Muir Award honoring a distinguished record of leadership in American conservation.

Moderator Eric Atkinson teaches biology courses and works with the INBRE program at Northwest College. His research interests include raptor ecology, conservation biology, and agroecology.

This event is part of the Northwest College Writers Series. Williams’ appearance is supported by a grant from the Wolsborn Environmental Science Fund, managed by the Northwest College Foundation.