Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Jack E. Davis Delivering Talk at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center
January 29, 2019
Proceeds from the event will benefit the Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance
NICEVILLE, FL – Jack E. Davis will give a talk on his Pulitzer prize-winning book, The Gulf, on February 4 at 7 p.m. in the Sprint Theater at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center. The event will feature an introduction by Commissioner Kelly Windes and NWF State College President Dr. Devin Stephenson. Book proceeds and donations benefit the Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance.
Jack E. Davis is a professor of history specializing in environmental history and sustainability studies. Before joining the faculty at the University of Florida in 2003, he taught at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Eckerd College, and in 2002 was a Fulbright scholar at the University of Jordan in Amman.
Upon joining the faculty at UF, he founded the department’s student journal, Alpata: A Journal of History. His Race Against Time: Culture and Separation in Natchez Since 1930 won the Charles S. Sydnor Prize for the best book in southern history published in 2001. His next book, An Everglades Providence: Marjory Stoneman Douglas and the American Environmental Century (2009), received a gold medal from the Florida Book Awards.
The Gulf was a New York Times Notable Book for 2017 and made several other “best of” lists for the year, including those of the Washington Post, NPR, Forbes and the Tampa Bay Times. In addition to winning the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for History, The Gulf was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction and winner of the Kirkus Prize for nonfiction.
“The book focuses on the foundational history and ecology that has shaped our region as a whole,” said Alison McDowell, CBA Director. “As a non-profit organization dedicated to studying and improving our natural environment, we are looking forward to meeting Dr. Davis and will use the proceeds from the event to enhance swimmable, fishable waterways in our community.”
The event is made possible through a generous gift from Jennifer Boxen.
Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance is a non-profit organization striving to enhance swimmable, fishable waterways through monitoring, education, restoration, and research. For over 20 years, CBA has promoted water stewardship within the Choctawhatchee watershed, growing the network of supporters who join in CBA’s mission to provide a future for these precious, natural resources.