Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute

Contact InformationPaula Bonk
Administrative Assistant
1411 Ellis Avenue
Ashland, WI 54806
(715) 682-1222
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Meet the Author

John Vaillant, 2011 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award (SONWA) winner, accepted his award and read an excerpt from his book, The Tiger, A True Story of Vengeance and Survival, on Thursday, September 22, at 7 p.m. in the Sentry Room. For more information about Mr. Vaillant and his winning book, visit his website: http://www.thetigerbook.com/, or check out this YouTube video of John talking about The Tiger http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE-w1K4LCyw

Northland is also sponsored John Vaillant's reading at the Target Learning Center at the Minnesota Zoo, on Friday, September 23. Tigers and Humans (conflict and controversy). Author John Vaillant and Dr. Ron Tilson will explore the world of predator/human conflict and the fate of the world's largest cat species. Mr. Valiant will read from his book - The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival. Following this reading, will be a presentation about Amur Tigers by Dr. Ron Tilson, Senior Conservation Advisor for the Minnesota Zoo Foundation. Dr. Tilson has spent nearly 25 years working for tiger conservation around the world. A discussion and Q&A time will follow.

Both events are free and open to the public.

2011 Winner: The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival, by John Vaillant

A riveting account of the hunt for a marauding tiger, THE TIGER by John Vaillant is, simply put, an incredible story, told with a spareness and vividness that echoes Jon Krakauer, Peter Matthiessen, and other classic writers who explore man's interactions with nature.

Set in the bleak and forbidding cold of Siberia, and without ever resorting to anthropomorphism, Vaillant renders a Siberian tiger as a real character. This is a story of a primal subject, one that is almost premodern despite having happened just ten years ago. Vaillant explores the nature of predator and prey, and brings us into a world completely foreign to our own protected existence.

Vaillant's carefully drawn Siberia is a place of extraordinary privation, one where people still struggle to survive. He renders the will and resourcefulness required to live in such a place, and paints a compelling portrait of the people of the region. Slated to become a film for Focus Films starring Brad Pitt, The Tiger gives us an edge-of-your-seat story of one man's struggle against nature's most fearsome and efficient predator.

Click here to read The Tiger review and critical analysis.