Open Word: Readings and Ideas Andrew Nikiforuk followed by conversation with Lynne Van Luven
October 28, 7:30pm
Admission is by donation.
The Open Word: Readings and Ideas series returns to Open Space with
journalist, ecologist and non-fiction writer, Andrew Nikiforuk. Nikiforuk will read
from his latest book Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent on Tuesday
October 28 at 7:30pm followed by a conversation with Lynne Van Luven.
Nikiforuk has earned a reputation as an honest and provocative voice in Canadian
journalism. Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent is a critical expose of
the open-pit mines of Fort McMurray and an exploration of this 21st pioneer town.
Tar Sands uncovers the town’s historical social ills including its rapturous engineers,
cocaine dealers and aimless bush workers. Nikiforuk’s investegative eye for
ecological impact is unprecedented. His writing locates a nuanced balance between
distopic facts and optimistic solutions. His much lauded work, Pandemonium
effectively examines the impact of global trade on disease exchanges.
As a journalist, Nikiforuk has won seven National Maragazine awards since 1986 and
has earned top honours for investigative writing from the Association of Canadian
Journalists. For the past two decades Nikifouk’s work has appeared in Maclean’s,
Chatelaine, Equinox and other established National magazines. His book, Saboteurs:
Wiebo Ludwig’s War Against Big Oil won the Governor General Award for non-fiction
in 2002. Following his reading, Nikiforuk will be joined in discussion by Lynne Van
Luven, Acting Associate Dean at the University of Victoria, Department of Fine Arts.