Author and St. Louis native Nick Reding will read from his work at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 16, for The Writing Program in Arts & Sciences.
The talk — part of The Writing Program Reading Series — is free and open to the public and takes place in Duncker Hall, Room 201, Hurst Lounge. A reception and book signing will immediately follow.
A writer of literary non-fiction, Reding is author of “The Last Cowboys at the End of the World: The Story of the Gauchos of Patagonia” (2001). The book explores a semi-nomadic culture that was once thought to have all but disappeared at the end of the 19th century.
Yet, in 1995, while working as a flyfishing guide in Chilean Patagonia — one of the least-populated regions in the world — Reding found a himself amidst gauchos, some as young as 13, who still live largely alone with their herds, hours on horseback from the nearest neighbors.
Three years later Reding quit his job as a magazine editor and returned to the region for a 10-month stay, chronicling his experiences with novelistic drive and detail.
Born in St. Louis, Reding earned a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and English literature from Northwestern University and a master’s degree in creative writing from New York University, where he has taught undergraduate fiction and poetry.
Now a freelance journalist, Reding has published articles in Harper’s, Outside, and Food and Wine magazines, among others.
His most recent book is the forthcoming “Methland” about the methamphetamine epidemic in small towns. He resides in New York.
For more information, call 935-7130 or e-mail dschuman@wustl.edu.