The David C. Hardesty Jr. Festival of Ideas is bringing two authors with differing perspectives on Appalachian culture to West Virginia University.
J.D. Vance, author of the No. 1 New York Times best seller “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis” will be held tonight, (Feb. 21) at 7: 30 p.m. in the Mountainlair ballrooms. Elizabeth Catte, public historian and author of “What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia” will discuss her work, a frank assessment of the country's recent obsession with the people and problems of Appalachia, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m. in the Life Sciences Building, room G15.
After growing up in Middletown, Ohio, Vance attended the Ohio State University and Yale Law School, and is now an investor, commentator and author who has been appeared on ABC, CBS, FOX News and CNN.
Catte, a historian and writer based in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, has been featured in the Guardian, NPR, Salon, LitHub, Rewire, Outline and New Republic. She is also a regular contributor to Belt Magazine. She holds a Ph.D. in public history and recently joined WVU Press as an editor-at-large.
The event is open to the public and co-sponsored by the WVU Humanities Center and West Virginia University Press.
Founded in 2017, the Humanities Center at West Virginia University works to cultivate critical humanistic inquiry, fostering collaborative, interdisciplinary, and publicly accessible scholarship and teaching to benefit the common good of the University, the state, and the world.
The David C. Hardesty Jr. Festival of Ideas was created in 1995 by former WVU president David C. Hardesty Jr. and is produced by University Events. It was inspired by events he organized as WVU’s student body president in the 1960s. Today, the lecture series spans the academic year and engages a diverse group of newsmakers, public figures, thought leaders, and WVU’s own superstars.
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