'The Importance of Being (Fairly) Earnest'

Admission is free; no reservations are required.

Duncan, a leading environmental activist who lives in Montana, is widely recognized for his humorous and beautifully crafted essays and novels. He is a passionate voice for wilderness and wildlife, particularly salmon. His collection of essays, “River Teeth,” inspired an upcoming Oregon film festival and the award-winning literary magazine, River Teeth: A Journal of Narrative Non-fiction.

His books have won numerous honors and his latest, “My Story as Told by Water,” won the Pushcart Prize, Western States Book Award, a Montana Arts Council Fellowship and was a 2001 National Book Award finalist.

A contributing editor to Orion magazine, Duncan sits on the advisory boards of several periodicals and watershed protection groups. An avid fly fisher, he is scripting and narrating two documentary films: one on wild Idaho salmon and one on bamboo fly rods. He is also at work on a novel set at the confluence of Asian mysticism and American mountains, titled “Eastern Western.”

Duncan will also speak during a Westmont convocation 10:30 a.m. Oct. 17 in Murchison Gymnasium, which is also open to the public. The title of his convocation speech is “Small, Good Things.”

Here is a sampling of what some critics said about Duncan’s latest work: “My Story as Told by Water.”

“Duncan writes boldly and passionately but with fine humor about urban sprawl, industrial pollution, logging, mining and dam building, and the corporados, politicians and government agencies that promote them. … His reporting is accurate, informed and ruthlessly honest… His drive to expose and vanquish the threats to his home watersheds…places him firmly in the tradition of Thoreau and John Muir, but with a bit of Groucho Marx thrown in for good measure…” – The Seattle Times

“Imagine Ludwig von Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” as an environmental essay…” – Bellingham Herald

“A moving tribute to running water and the life it supports… Part memoir, part meditation, Duncan describes wild rivers, faith, wonder, fly fishing and environmental politics with eloquence, intensity and humor.” – Christian Science Monitor

“Jeremiah ranted, so too Amos, and neither of those boys had even a speck of Duncan’s humor.” – Commonweal

Duncan’s appearances are sponsored by the Westmont Foundation and Poets & Writers Inc. through a grant it received from the James Irvine Foundation.

For more information, contact the public affairs office at (805) 565-6051 or e-mail pubaffairs@westmont.edu.