Author and environmental advocate Terry Tempest Williams, speaking at two engagements in Southwest Florida this week, revisits her idea of essential common ground for dialogue from her 2004 book, "The Open Space of Democracy."
Williams was dis-invited from a 2004 convocation at FGCU over concerns from then-University President Bill Merwin that her comments—schedule weeks before the presidential election—would be too political for what was then a required convocation for freshmen students. The Fort Myers News-Press reports campus groups ultimately arranged for Williams to visit to FGCU and speak at an event organized by students.
Williams will first speak at FGCU, presenting the 2017 Rachel Carson Distinguished lecture entitled "The Open Space of Democracy Revisited." The lecture is at the Cohen Center Thursday at 10:30 a.m.
A second lecture, called "The Hour of Land: Rachel Carson and America's Protected Lands," is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday at St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church on Sanibel Island.
Thursday at 1:30 p.m. on Gulf Coast Live, Terry Tempest Williams discusses her return to South Florida, the role of environmental writers today, and how America's "open spaces for democracy" have changed in the 13 years since her book was first published.