Sedona Public Library presents “An Evening with New York Times’ Bestselling Author Kevin Fedarko” on Saturday evening, October 19. At this fundraising event for the Library, Fedarko will share the story of a year-long trek he made with his best friend and photographer Peter McBride. You’ll learn firsthand about their epic adventure walking 750 miles through the heart of the Grand Canyon. Following Fedarko’s talk at the Sedona Performing Art Center (SPAC), there will be a Q&A session, book sale, and book signing.
Fedarko is an acclaimed author and journalist known for his exploration of the American Southwest and his passion for environmental conservation. He is the author of two New York Times bestselling titles, The Emerald Mile and the newly released and highly anticipated A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon which will be the focus of this fundraising event.
The Library is excited to bring back this amazing writer. Fedarko is known for his flair for storytelling as well as his insights into nature and adventure. This is a voice you need to hear, or hear again, and we’re excited to bring him to Sedona. All proceeds will directly support Library programs and ensure that we can keep bringing authors and artists of this caliber to the Sedona and Verde Valley community. General admission and VIP tickets, and event details, are available on our website.
He might just inspire you to return to the Grand Canyon, or, if you’ve never been, you will surely want to visit this world wonder soon. Connection with natural beauty is at the heart of Fedarko’s work. He is known for how he resonates with readers and outdoor enthusiasts alike. Your understanding of the rugged beauty and delicate ecosystems of the American West will surely be fine-tuned, or elevated, from his presentation, and you will be happily reminded of the profound importance of our natural landscapes and the stories they hold.
Just to pique your interest, here is an excerpt from “A Walk in the Park” provided by the author on his Facebook page.
“The closing days of our journey were among the most wistful and dreamlike of the entire venture, filled with impressions that would remain imprinted like stream-polished pebbles on the riverbeds of our memories.
Yet what I would later recall even more vividly than the visual splendor of the canyon’s final flaring was the one-act drama that opened each evening as night fell across the terraces, when a wave of absolute silence washed over the land.
A silence so pure and clean, flecked with starlight and chilled by currents of cold autumn air, that it seemed to form its own river.
Spilling down the faces of the cliffs, flooding the pockets of shallow ground. Pooling and deepening until the entire plateau was bathed in a hush that seemed to charge the senses, quicken the conscience, and settle the mind all at once.”
Fedarko has spent the past 20 years writing about conservation, exploration, and the Grand Canyon. He has been a staff writer at Time magazine, where he worked primarily on the foreign affairs desk, and a senior editor at Outside, where he covered outdoor adventure. His writing has appeared in National Geographic, the New York Times, and Esquire, among other publications. His first book, The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon, which won a National Outdoor Book Award and the Reading the West Book Award, was a New York Times bestseller.
Tickets to this exciting event can be purchased HERE. We hope you’ll join us for a VIP Meet & Greet wine and cheese reception with Fedarko at the Library in the Community Room before the event at SPAC. This VIP reception will be available for $100 ticket purchase. In addition, you will get premium seating at the event later that evening, and you will get a free ticket to Sedona International Film Festival’s screening of McBride’s film Into the Canyon, a documentary that gives you an up-close view of Fedarko and McBride’s odyssey. (Screening dates TBD, stay tuned!).
Individual tickets for general seating at the event are $45 or two tickets for $75. Buy your tickets on the library’s website, and be sure to bring your printed ticket or a ticket downloaded to your phone (there is minimal cell service at the SPAC location). Books will be sold in the SPAC lobby by Bright Side Bookstore and Fedarko will be available to sign books. See you on October 19!
Sedona Public Library is an independently run, 501(c)(3), privately owned, debt-free, non-profit organization providing public services. Support comes from the City of Sedona; your property tax dollars from Coconino and Yavapai Counties; and businesses, foundations, and individuals like you, as well as the amazing Friends of the Sedona Library who have supported the Library for more than 55 years. Please visit us at sedonalibrary.org/donate to make a gift today.
As published by Red Rock News
Library News Column for September 6, 2024, by Anne Marie Mackler, Development Director