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2011 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Awardee John Vaillant to speak at Northland

September 19, 2011

Author John Vaillant has been chosen as the 2011 winner of the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award. Vaillant will discuss his award-winning book The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival at the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute on Thursday, Sept. 22, at 7 p.m. The event, another offering in the Northland College Community Connections series, is free and open to the public. Vaillant's novel was selected from more than 40 submissions to a committee of readers from Northland College and the community. John Vaillant is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in National Geographic, The New Yorker and the Atlantic.

The Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute (SOEI) established the nature writing award in 1991 to honor the memory and literary legacy of Sigurd F. Olson. The award recognizes remarkable environmental adult literature that captures the spirit of the human relationship with the natural world and promotes the values that preserve or restore the land for future generations. Set in Siberia, Vaillant's The Tiger brings the endangered Amur tiger to life and chronicles the interactions between man and animal.

"John Vaillant's book explores the relationship between animal and man through a local, economic and political lens," says committee reader Lissa Radke, U.S. Coordinator of the Lake Superior Binational Forum housed at Northland. "The book really serves as a model for how people in the Lake Superior Basin can coexist with our own large predator species, such as wolves and cougars."

The award recipient receives a $1,000 cash prize and an invitation to visit Northland College for an award ceremony and reading. Interactions at these readings between authors and Northland College students, area residents, and environmental artists are invaluable to the Chequamegon Bay region, literary and arts community, and educational experience at Northland College. The award is made possible through individual donations and an endowment from Eileen Long, former Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute Advisory Board member.