Elizabeth Kolbert

Elizabeth Kolbert
Born	(1961-07-06) July 6, 1961
Residence	Williamstown, Massachusetts
Nationality	American
Other names	Betsy
Alma mater	Yale University
Occupation	Journalist and author
Spouse(s)	John Kleiner
Awards	National Magazine Award (2006) National Magazine Award (2010) Heinz Award (2010) Pulitzer Prize (2015)

Elizabeth Kolbert (born 1961) is an American journalist and author and visiting fellow at Williams College. She is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History,^[1] and as an observer and commentator on environmentalism for The New Yorker magazine.^[2] As of March 2017, Kolbert serves as a member of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist's Science and Security Board. ^[3]

Youth and education

Kolbert spent her early childhood in the Bronx, New York; her family then relocated to Larchmont, New York, where she remained until 1979.

After graduating from Mamaroneck High School, Kolbert spent four years studying literature at Yale University. In 1983, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the Universität Hamburg, in Germany.

Career

Elizabeth Kolbert started working for The New York Times as a stringer in Germany in 1983. In 1985, she went to work for the Metro desk. Kolbert served as the Times' Albany bureau chief from 1988 to 1991, and wrote the Metro Matters column from 1997 to 1998.

Since 1999, she has been a staff-writer for The New Yorker.^[2]

She received a Lannan Literary Fellowship in 2006. She served as a judge for the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award in 2012.^[4] She received the Sam Rose and Julie Walters Prize for Global Environmental Activism at Dickinson College in 2016.

Personal life

Kolbert resides in Williamstown, Massachusetts, with her husband, John Kleiner, and three sons.^[5] She appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on February 11, 2014, to discuss her book The Sixth Extinction.

Awards

• 2005 American Association for the Advancement of Science Journalism Award^[6]
• 2006 National Magazine Award for Public Interest^[7]
• 2006 Lannan Literary Fellowship^[8]
• 2006 National Academies Communication Award^[9]
• 16th Annual Heinz Award (with special focus on global change), 2010^[10]
• 2010 National Magazine Award for Commentary^[11]
• 2010 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in Science Writing ^[12]
• 2015 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction ^[13]
• 2016 Sam Rose '58 and Julie Walters Prize at Dickinson College for Environmental Activism ^[14]

Bibliography

Books

• Kolbert, Elizabeth (2004). The prophet of love : and other tales of power and deceit. New York: Bloomsbury. 
• — (2006). Field notes from a catastrophe : man, nature, and climate change. New York: Bloomsbury. 
• Kolbert, Elizabeth and Francis Spufford, eds. (2007). The ends of the Earth : an anthology of the finest writing on the Arctic and the Antarctic. 1st U.S. ed. New York: Bloomsbury. CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter (link)
• Kolbert, Elizabeth, ed. (2009). The Best American science and nature writing 2009. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 
• Preface to anthology Welcome to the Greenhouse: Science Fiction on Climate Change (OR Books, 2011).
• The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, ISBN 978-0-8050-9299-8. (February 11, 2014) ^[15][16]

Essays and reporting

• Kolbert, Elizabeth (March 29, 2010). "Batless". Postcard from Vermont. The New Yorker. 86 (6): 42–43. Retrieved September 30, 2014.  On White nose syndrome.
• — (October 21, 2013). "Head count : fertilizer, fertility, and the clashes over population growth". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 89 (33): 96–99. 
• — (December 16, 2013). "The lost word : the mastodon's molars". Annals of Extinction. Part One. The New Yorker. 89 (41): 28–38. 
• — (December 23–30, 2013). "The lost world : fossils of the future". Annals of Extinction. Part Two. The New Yorker. 89 (42): 48–56. CS1 maint: Date format (link)
• — (July 28, 2014). "Stone soup". Annals of Alimentation. The New Yorker. 90 (21): 26–29. Retrieved September 30, 2014.  The Paleolithic Diet.
• — (December 22–29, 2014). "The big kill : New Zealand's crusade to rid itself of mammals". Annals of Extermination. The New Yorker. 90 (41): 120–126, 128–129. Retrieved March 31, 2015. CS1 maint: Date format (link)
• — (February 16, 2015). "The last trial : a great-grandmother, Auschwitz, and the arc of justice". Letter from Berlin. The New Yorker. 91 (1): 24–30. Retrieved 2015-05-30. 
• — (August 8–15, 2016). "Swords, sandals". The Talk of the Town. The Pictures. The New Yorker. 92 (24): 21–22. CS1 maint: Date format (link)^[17]
• — (October 24, 2016). "Greenland Is Melting". Letter from Greenland. The New Yorker. Retrieved 2016-10-18. 
• — (December 19–26, 2016). "Rage against the machine : will robots take your job?". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 92 (42): 114–118. CS1 maint: Date format (link)^[18]

References

Further reading

• Marina, Gosnell (March 16, 2006). "In Epoch of Man, Earth Takes a Beating". The New York Times.  Review of Field notes from a catastrophe.

External links

• Elizabeth Kolbert's Website
• "An Interview with Elizabeth Kolbert", Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) 2006
• Appearances on C-SPAN