Michael Pollan to close this season’s Hunter Lecture Series

Michael Pollan, author and activist, will give the last lecture of the 2011-2012 George T. Hunter Lecture Series on Thursday, April 19th at 7 p.m at the Tivoli Theatre. This event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6 p.m. Seating is available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Pollan’s lecture is entitled: In Defense of Food: An Omnivore’s Solution.

For the past 20 years, Michael Pollan has been writing books and articles about the places where the human and natural worlds intersect – with a focus on food and agriculture. He is the author of the bestsellers In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto and The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, which was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2006 by the New York Times and the Washington Post. It also won the California Book Award, the Northern California Book Award, the James Beard Award for best food writing, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Pollan’s previous book, The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World, was also a New York Times bestseller, received the Borders Original Voices Award for the best non-fiction work of 2001, and was recognized as a best book of the year by the American Booksellers Association and Amazon.com. PBS premiered a two-hour special documentary based on The Botany of Desire in fall 2009.

His most recent book is Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, which was an immediate #1 New York Times bestseller upon publication; an expanded, illustrated edition of Food Rules was published in November 2011.

In 2009 he was named one of the top 10 “New Thought Leaders” by Newsweek magazine. His essays have appeared in many anthologies, including Best American Essays (the 1990 and 2003 editions), Best American Science Writing (2004), and the Norton Book of Nature Writing. In addition to publishing regularly in The New York Times Magazine, his articles have appeared in Harper’s (where he served for many years as executive editor), Mother Jones, Gourmet, Vogue, Travel + Leisure, Gardens Illustrated, and The Nation. Michael Pollan was chosen by Time Magazine for the 2010 Time 100 in the Thinkers category.

The Benwood Foundation, UTC, and the Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies co-sponsor this lecture series, named after the founder of the Benwood Foundation. The goal is to raise awareness of some of our most important public policy issues by bringing community opinion leaders, residents, students, and scholars together to hear from and engage in dialogue with national leaders. For more information, visit www.benwood.org.