Please join us on Nov. 15 in Durango for our first and only IN-PERSON author talk from the Water '22 book club series to hear from Jonathan Thompson, author of River of Lost Souls: The Science, Politics, and Greed Behind the Gold King Mine Disaster.

This event is being produced by Water Education Colorado, in collaboration with the Four Corners Water Center and Maria's bookshop.

Part elegy, part ode, part investigative science journalism, River of Lost Souls tells the gripping story behind the 2015 Gold King Mine disaster that turned the Animas River in southwestern Colorado orange with sludge and toxic metals for over 100 miles downstream, wreaking havoc on cities, farms, and the Navajo Nation along the way.

Jonathan Thompson is an award-winning freelance author, journalist and editor. He usually writes about the land, culture and communities of the American West, with an emphasis on energy development, pollution, land-use politics and economics. But he’s fascinated by the complexity of the world around him, and is happy to delve into almost any topic. He is a contributing editor at High Country News.

The conversation will be moderated by Barb Horn, who has worked on water quality issues in Colorado since 1986 as a water quality specialist for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. At CPW, she founded the Volunteer Scientist Program, River Watch, which provides community members with monitoring equipment and their data is used in Clean Water Act decisions to protect aquatic life. She has also been a national leader for community scientists serving in various roles, commissions and committees elevating community science across the nation and internationally. She was actively sampling the Animas River before and after the Gold King Mine Spill.

The event will take place from 6:00-7:30pm in the Vallecito Room of the Student Union at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo. The event is free to attend but you must register to attend using the link below.

If you have not yet gotten a copy of River of Lost Souls, please consider purchasing from Jonathan's favorite local bookstore, Maria's Bookshop, via this link.