Award-winning author J. Drew Lanham will visit the University of Lynchburg at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 13, in Hall Campus Center’s Memorial Ballroom. His visit is part of the Thornton Reading Series and is free and open to the public. A book signing will follow the reading.
A South Carolina native, Lanham is a naturalist, birder, and hunter-conservationist. He is a distinguished alumni professor and master teacher of wildlife ecology at Clemson University and describes himself as a “man in love with nature — a wanderer finding foundation in wild places.”
He has supervised dozens of graduate students, published widely in scientific journals, and taught courses in conservation biology, forest ecology, wildlife policy, ornithology, and environmental literature/nature writing.
Lanham is the author of “The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature,” which won the Reed Award from the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Southern Book Prize. His most recent book is “Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts.”
His work has been published in a number of publications, including Orion, Audubon, Flycatcher, and Wilderness, along with many anthologies, including “The Colors of Nature,” “State of the Heart,” “Bartram’s Living Legacy,” and “Carolina Writers at Home.”
Lanham also was a John Burroughs Medal Finalist and a 2022 MacArthur Fellow.
“I have found that Lanham’s work captures his love for nature, place, and family,” said Richard H. Thornton Chair Jer Bryant ’03, ’10 MA, who teaches English at Lynchburg and directs the Wilmer Writing Center.
“I hope students will be inspired to observe, contemplate, and write about nature and family history.”
Lanham will attend Dr. Kelly Ann Jacobson’s Nature Writing class to give a guest lecture. He’ll also meet with two creative writing students to reflect and offer advice on their writing.
Lanhman’s visit to the University of Lynchburg is made possible by the Richard H. Thornton Endowment. For more information, contact Bryant at 434.544.8588 or bryant.j@lynchburg.edu.
