March 2, 2006
Dietrich to speak on writing
Journalist William Dietrich will speak on Two Roads to Reality: Journalism, Fiction, and the Future of Writing as part of the UW Libraries’ Blom Lecture Series. The talk will be at 7 p.m. Friday, March 10, in 101 Suzzallo.
A journalist and historical novelist, Dietrich will speak on the challenges of writing in the seemingly opposite genres of journalism and fiction. He has written on a range of environmental topics, from the history of the Columbia River to the spotted owl. In 1990 he was part of a four-person team that won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting on the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
His travels have taken him from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and a visit to Hadrian’s Wall inspired the historical war and romance novel set in Roman Britain, Hadrian’s Wall (2004). His latest novel, The Scourge of God (2005), is set in 450 A.D. on the plains of Hunuguri, and chronicles the life of Attila the Hun.
Some of the essays he has written about nature for the Seattle Times have been collected to create Natural Grace (2003). All royalties from that book are being donated to land preservation and environmental education.
Dietrich was born in 1951 in Tacoma, graduated from Mount Tahoma High School in 1969, and attended Fairhaven College, an experimental liberal arts division of Western Washington University.
The event is free and open to the public; however reservations are required. Visit www.uwalum.com, or call 206-543-0540. The talk will be followed by a question and answer period, reception and book-signing.
