Tuesday, Oct 8, 2019
'The Poisoned City' author Anna Clark will give a talk open to the public
by Adam Grybowski
Anna Clark, the author of The Poisoned City, Rider University's Shared Read selection for 2019-20, will visit Rider on Oct. 29. The event, which is free and open to the public, will feature a talk, Q&A and book signing.
The Poisoned City tells the story of the water crisis in Flint, Mich., which became a national scandal in 2014. Crumbling infrastructure, cash-strapped government agencies and cavalier officials all contributed to thousands of residents being exposed to poisonous elements like lead from the city's drinking water. Lead can cause irreversible damage to the brain and nervous system. Even before the crisis, Flint had long struggled, with many residents living in poverty and the government teetering on bankruptcy.
Throughout the academic year, Clark's book is being used in the classroom while also serving as the basis for a series of events on campus, including a mayor's panel on Nov. 13 featuring local government leaders from the communities surrounding Rider to discuss water quality and safety. While Flint is almost 700 miles away from Lawrenceville, another water crisis has recently been developing closer to home, in Newark, N.J.
"One of our goals in selecting the Shared Read is to engage our students and the entire community in complex social issues that are directly relevant to their lives and the larger national discourse," says Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs DonnaJean A. Fredeen. "In her book, Anna Clark skillfully shows how such social issues mixed with politics and history to create a tragedy in Flint."
The Poisoned City was named one of the best books of 2018 by the Washington Post, the New York Public Library, Amazon and many other outlets. It also won multiple awards including the Hillman Prize for Book Journalism.
Rider’s Shared Read Program encourages all students, faculty, staff and alumni to read the same book, creating, in essence, a book club as big as the University. Copies of The Poisoned City were made available for free to the campus community.
Clark is a Michigan-native and Detroit-based journalist who has published in Elle, The New York Times, Politico and other places. She wrote Michigan Literary Luminaries: From Elmore Leonard to Robert Hayden and edited A Detroit Anthology. Clark graduated from the University of Michigan with a double major in art history and creative writing and literature and a minor in crime and justice. She earned a Master of Fine Arts from Warren Wilson College. She was writer-in-residence in Detroit high schools through InsideOut Literary Arts.
"An Evening with Anna Clark" will begin at 7 p.m. on Oct. 29 in the Bart Luedeke Center Theater.