Award-winning journalist, author and Basque Hall of Fame inductee to discuss writing and cultural history of food during Reno visit, Oct. 9
The Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno in partnership with Nevada Humanities will honor prolific author, journalist and Basque Hall of Fame inductee Mark Kurlansky as the 2012 Robert Laxalt Distinguished Writer, with two events to be held Tuesday, Oct. 9 in Reno. Kurlansky will speak at the University about the craft of writing, and at the Nevada Museum of Art about the cultural history of food, in dialogue with Colin Robertson, the museum’s Charles N. Mathewson Curator of Education.
What: In Dialogue with Author Mark Kurlansky: The Cultural History of Food
When: Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012, 1 p.m.
Where: Nevada Museum of Art, 160 West Liberty St., Reno
The event is free and open to the public. Free parking is available at the Nevada Museum of Art.
What: 2012 Robert Laxalt Distinguished Writer Lecture: Mark Kurlansky — The Craft of Writing
When: Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012, 7-9 p.m.
Where: Joe Crowley Student Union Theatre, University of Nevada, Reno campus
The lecture is free and open to the public. Free parking is available at the University’s Brian J. Whalen Parking Complex, 4th floor, on N. Virginia St., just south of Lawlor Events Center.
Mark Kurlansky worked in New York as an award-winning playwright before turning to journalism in the mid 1970s. He has served as a foreign correspondent for The International Herald Tribune, The Chicago Tribune, The Miami Herald, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Based in Paris and then Mexico, he reported on Europe, West Africa, Southeast Asia, Central America, Latin America and the Caribbean. His articles have also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine, Partisan Review, Harper’s, New York Times Sunday Magazine, Audubon Magazine, Food & Wine, Gourmet, Bon Appétit and Parade.
Author of five works of fiction and 14 nonfiction books, including his latest, Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man, 2012, and the international best seller, The Basque History of the World, 1999, Kurlansky was given an honorary ambassadorship by the Basque government and named to the Basque Hall of Fame in 2001. His books have been translated into 25 languages and he often illustrates them himself.
“The Laxalt Distinguished Writer Program was created by the Reynolds School of Journalism shortly after Bob Laxalt’s death in 2001 to inspire new generations of writers and to honor Bob’s extraordinary contributions toward journalism and literature,” said Warren Lerude, professor of journalism emeritus and a longtime friend of Laxalt.
Considered by many to be Nevada’s finest writer, Laxalt authored 17 books, including the iconic Sweet Promised Land. Laxalt founded the University of Nevada Press and was a professor in the Reynolds School for 18 years.
“The remarkable quality and breadth of Mark Kurlansky’s work makes him an exemplary choice as the 2012 Laxalt Distinguished Writer,” said Alan Stavitsky, dean of the Reynolds School of Journalism. Kurlansky is the tenth writer to be honored by the program.
In conjunction with the Laxalt Distinguished Writer events, each year the faculty honors the finest student writer at the Reynolds School of Journalism with the Robert Laxalt Memorial Award. This year’s honoree is Andrew Church.
For more about Mark Kurlansky, visithttp://www.markkurlansky.com<http://www.markkurlansky.com/>.
For more about the Laxalt Distinguished Writer events and the University’s Reynolds School of Journalism, visit http://www.journalism.unr.edu<http://www.journalism.unr.edu/> or call (775) 784-6531.
For more about Nevada Humanities and its programs statewide, visit http://www.nevadahumanities.org<http://www.nevadahumanities.org/>.
For more about the Nevada Museum of Art and its events, visit http://www.nevadaart.org<http://www.nevadaart.org/>.
The Laxalt Distinguished Writer events are sponsored by the University of Nevada, Reno’s Donald W. Reynolds School of Journalism in partnership with Nevada Humanities and funded through community contributions, the John Ben Snow Memorial Trust, the Donald W. Reynolds Chair in Business Journalism, the College of Liberal Arts Hilliard Endowment, the Center for Basque Studies, the Nevada Museum of Art, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Nevada’s land-grant university founded in 1874, the University of Nevada, Reno has an enrollment of nearly 17,000 students. The University is home to one of the country’s largest study-abroad programs and the state’s medical school, and offers outreach and education programs in all Nevada counties. For more information, visit http://www.unr.edu<http://www.unr.edu/> .
