Contact: Nicole Hernandez Marketing and Communications Coordinator
Aspen Writers’ Foundation
970-925.3122, ext. 2# | Nicole@aspenwriters.org
Aspen, CO, February 9, 2010 –– The Aspen Writers’ Foundation, a program of the Aspen Institute, is pleased to announce the participation of one of the world’s most celebrated scholars, Jared Diamond, in the 13th Annual Winter Words series. Aspen audiences will get a glimpse into the dazzling mind of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, and one of today’s most popular science writers. The event will start at 5:30 pm on Thursday, February 18th, at Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, CO, and will feature a public reading and talk followed by a Q&A session and a book signing. Tickets are $15 for an individual and $10 for a student or teacher with a valid school ID. As a full-capacity audience is expected for this program, early ticket purchasing is encouraged. Doors will open 30 minutes prior to the start of the event, and unclaimed tickets, if any, will be on sale at the door.
In his 1997 bestseller Guns, Germs and Steel, Diamond argued that environmental and ecological factors play a more prominent role in the success or failure of a society than do racial and cultural ones, contrary to the traditional argument of racial determinism. His most recent book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005) examines the failure or success of a range of past civilizations and explores what contemporary societies can learn from them. Diamond asserts that environmental concerns are not secondary to economic and security issues in the success of a society but inextricably linked with them. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, over his illustrious 50-year career Diamond has been the recipient of a MacArthur Genius Award; Britain’s Rhone-Poulenc Science Book Prize; a Los Angeles Times Book Award; numerous research prizes of the American Physiological Society, National Geographic Society, and Zoological Society of San Diego; and many teaching awards and endowed public lectureships. He is a professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles, and until recently was professor of physiology at the UCLA School of Medicine. He is also the author of two other books: The Third Chimpanzee and Why is Sex Fun?
For more information on Winter Words or to purchase tickets, please call the Aspen Writers’ Foundation (AWF) at 970-925-3122, ext. 5# or visit www.aspenwriters.org. Tickets may also be purchased through the Wheeler Opera House at www.aspenshowtickets.com or by calling 970-920-5770.
Ticket levels include:
? Winter Words single tickets: $15 individual; $10 student/educator with current school ID.
? Author Salon (includes Winter Words reading and talk plus a reception in a private home): $40 single ticket ? for AWF members only. Annual memberships, starting at $100, are accepted at any time of the year.
Tickets are on sale now for future events. Upcoming speakers include:
February 25
David Wroblewski, author of the Oprah Book Club selection The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
The Given Institute
March 8
Anita Shreve, critically acclaimed best-selling author of The Pilot’s Wife and A Change in Altitude
Wheeler Opera House
March 11
Tobias Wolff, PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author of This Boy’s Life and Old School
The Given Institute
The Aspen Writers’ Foundation, Colorado’s oldest nonprofit literary organization and a program of the Aspen Institute, has been bringing readers and writers together since 1976. The organization’s mission is to provide programs that encourage writers in their craft and readers in their appreciation of literature. Through its repertoire of ten year-round programs and projects, the Aspen Writers’ Foundation annually serves 100,000-plus literary enthusiasts of all ages.
The Aspen Institute mission is twofold: to foster values-based leadership, encouraging individuals to reflect on the ideals and ideas that define a good society, and to provide a neutral and balanced venue for discussing and acting on critical issues. The Aspen Institute does this primarily in four ways: seminars, young-leader fellowships around the globe, policy programs and public conferences and events. The Institute is based in Washington, DC, Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and has an international network of partners.
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