Art Cullen at the Davenport Public Library's Main Branch -- October 19.
Wednesday, October 19, 2 p.m.
Davenport Public Library Main Branch, 321 Main Street, Davenport IA
A widely respected newspaper editor, book author, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Art Cullen will speak at the Davenport Public Library's Main Branch on October 19, his presentation and subsequent question and answer session focusing on his nonfiction Storm Lake: A Chronicle of Change, Resilience, & Hope from a Heartland Newspaper that Kirkus Reviews called an "impassioned, significant book from a newsman who made a difference.”
Published in 2018, Storm Lake: A Chronicle of Change, Resilience, &Hope from a Heartland Newspaper is a culmination of Cullen's 38 years of professional experience as a reporter, editor, observer, and inquisitor of life in the heartland. In the tradition of What’s the Matter With Kansas? and White Trash, Cullen – who serves as the editor of the family-run weekly newspaper The Storm Lake Times – has written a one-of-a-kind story of the rural Midwest's turbulent past and promising future, illustrating the intrinsic decency and surprisingly progressive potential of this often overlooked and misunderstood region. Part memoir, part cultural history, Storm Lake is a story of how the heartland has been washed out over the past 40 years: family farms disappearing to the consolidation of industrial agriculture; small towns bleeding jobs and population; a once-comfortable way of life supplanted by low-wage meatpacking jobs, environmental degradation, and a cultural sense of loss and upheaval. It’s also a story of how the farm crisis of the 1980s damaged the economy and psyche of the Midwest in ways that many communities have still not recovered from, and about the Red and Blue roller coaster of Iowa politics.
But Storm Lake is also a saga of successes and surprising sources of optimism for those who still believe in the promise of America. The small town of Storm Lake emerges, vividly described as a surprisingly diverse and progressively minded place, with a dynamic and growing community enhanced by immigration from Mexico, Laos, and other countries. Telling of how immigration revitalizes America culturally and spiritually, and how a small newspaper plays its role in investigating, explaining, and sharing the life of the community around it, Storm Lake was described by Publishers Weekly a a "memoir that gracefully illuminates the challenges facing the American heartland. Composed of political history, tales of civic controversies, and human interest stories, the subject matter is elevated by Cullen’s passion into parables relevant to all Americans ... a window into small-town America.”
Art Cullen will speak in the downtown library's Meeting Room B on October 19, participation in the 2 p.m. event is free, and more information is available by calling (563)326-7832 and visiting DavenportLibrary.com.
