WVTF and Lynchburg College sponsor NPR's John Burnett

National Public Radio reporter John Burnett will present “Pages from an NPR Reporter’s Notebook,” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 27, in Memorial Ballroom, Hall Campus Center, at Lynchburg College. The talk is free and open to the public.

An award-winning NPR correspondent, Burnett reported from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and has covered many of the world’s hot spots and natural disasters. Burnett’s visit to campus is part of Lynchburg College’s yearlong emphasis on the environment, “A Greener Tomorrow Today,” and he will talk about his observations on environmental change and the challenges of reporting in difficult circumstances.

Lynchburg College and WVTF Public Radio are teaming up to bring Burnett to Lynchburg, where he will also be the guest at a public reception at Riverviews Artspace from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 26.

Before his public lecture Thursday evening, Burnett will spend the day at Lynchburg College. He will visit two classes and will read from his book, Uncivilized Beasts and Shameless Hellions: Travels with an NPR Correspondent (Rodale, 2006), at 2:30 p.m. in the Daura Gallery.

Burnett will be available to sign books after the reading and the evening lecture. The College’s Wilmer Writing Center is sponsoring the reading and signings, which are open to the public. Books are available for purchase in the Lynchburg College Bookstore and will be sold at both signings.

As a roving NPR correspondent based in Austin, Texas since 1986, Burnett has reported from 25 different countries. His reports are heard regularly on NPR’s award-winning newsmagazines Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition.

His 2007 three-part series, “The Forgotten War,” which took a critical look at the nation’s 30-year war on drugs, won a Nancy Dickerson Whitehead Award for Excellence in Reporting on Drug and Alcohol Problems.

In 2004, Burnett won a national Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio-Television News Directors Association for investigative reporting for his story on the U.S. bombing of an Iraqi village. In 2003, he was an embedded reporter with the First Marine Division during the invasion of Iraq. His work was singled out by judges for the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award honoring the network’s overall coverage of the Iraq War.

In 2001, Burnett reported and produced a one-hour documentary, “The Oil Century,” for KUT-FM in Austin, which won a silver prize at the New York Festivals. He received a Ford Foundation Grant in 1997 for a special series on sustainable development in Latin America.

Burnett graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1978. He is married to Virginia Garrard Burnett, an associate professor of history at the University of Texas, and has three children. He enjoys biking and playing the harmonica.

For additional information, call 434/544-8325.