The Great Black Swamp: A Conversation with Patrick Wensink
February 11 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm EST
In the summer of 2014, Lake Erie’s western basin turned a shocking, toxic green—an ecological disaster that threatened the drinking water of nearly 400,000 Ohio residents. How did it happen, and why does the answer lead back to a forgotten landscape most Americans have never heard of?
Join author Patrick Wensink on Zoom for a lively and deeply personal conversation about his book Great Black Swamp: Toxic Algae, Toxic Relationships, and the Most Interesting Place in America That Nobody’s Ever Heard Of. Blending environmental reporting, Midwestern history, and memoir, Wensink traces the roots of today’s global algae crisis to the drained wetlands of northwest Ohio and Indiana—once a vast, malaria-ridden ecosystem known as the Great Black Swamp.
As Wensink revisits his childhood home, he explores industrial agriculture, climate change, American history, and the scientists working on hopeful ecological interventions, all while reckoning with his own past, including a failing marriage and complicated personal relationships. The result is a surprising, funny, and urgent story about how landscapes shape people—and how damaged places might still point the way forward.
The event will include a reading, conversation, and audience Q&A. Registration required.