Yea.
National Geographic journalist and author Carl Hoffman loves connecting with readers about his work and life. He enjoys speaking with smaller communities like Murrindindi Shire’s.
Hoffman is the special guest at Yea Library’s Tuesday Talks, 12 September at 7pm and will chat live via Skype about his fascinating life and his latest book ‘Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism and Michael Rockefeller’s Tragic Quest for Primitive Art.’
“I’m really looking forward to talking with everyone about reporting and writing Savage Harvest – my story of Michael Rockefeller’s disappearance, but also the particular challenges I had with digging into and unraveling the story.
“With slides and video I’m going to take you on the journey with me in reporting this story that’s almost too crazy to be true, but is,” Carl said.
“As a writer, my greatest joy is simply to have readers read and engage with my books and the stories that I’ve spent so much time and effort to tell. I love the fact I can skip across oceans and engage directly with people in a place where we might never have the chance to physically meet and interact.
“Every country, every community, feels important to me as almost all of my writing is about remote places, people and cultures, so it’s especially exciting to have the opportunity to interact directly with people from places that are more off the beaten path, even if they’re anything but jungles or swamps inhabited by former head hunters.”
Carl said he enjoyed speaking with Australians about New Guinea because of our proximity to the country and shared history with it.
Carl will also discuss his next book called The Last Wild Men of Borneo: A True Tale of Death and Treasure.
“It’s sort of a sequel to Savage Harvest and it’s a wild adventure story about two Western men’s escape from their own culture and deep dive into Borneo and its indigenous people,” he said.
Murrindindi Councillor Sandice McAulay said Yea Library is carving out a strong reputation for attracting acclaimed authors to speak to the community.
“Just because we’re not in the heart of a city doesn’t mean we can’t have access to these amazing and inspirational people,” Cr McAulay said.
“Technology today now provides us with a wonderful opportunity to feel like we’re all sitting in the same room, enjoying a memorable discussion. We’ve had fabulous feedback from people who’ve come along saying they forget they’re not actually in the same room as our guests – it’s such an easy, personal experience.
“I love the fact that our Library staff have taken the attitude ‘If the mountain won’t go to Mohammad, then Mohammad must go to the mountain’. And the technology now enables us to do this with ease.
“It’s also a great opportunity for our young people who are thinking about their careers to chat with people they’d wouldn’t normally have a chance to meet. This can inspire our youth and give them a sense of what is possible and ideas about what they might do with their lives.”
Carl Hoffman is author of critically acclaimed books “Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism and Michael Rockefeller’s Tragic Quest for Primitive Art,” “The Lunatic Express: Discovering the World Via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains and Planes” and “Hunting Warbirds: The Obsessive Quest for the Lost Airplanes of World War II.”
To untangle what happened to the son of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, who vanished in 1961, he learned to speak Indonesian and lived in a remote village amidst 10,000 square miles of road-less swamp with a tribe of former headhunters and cannibals on the southwest coast of New Guinea.
A contributing editor at National Geographic Traveler and a former contributing editor for Wired, Hoffman has traveled to more than 75 countries on assignment for Outside; Smithsonian; National Geographic Adventure; ESPN, the Magazine; Wired; Men’s Journal; Popular Mechanics and other publications.
He’s spoken widely about the risks and rewards of traveling deeply into the furthest corners of the world to audiences.
Hoffman has won five Lowell Thomas Awards from the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation and two North American Travel Journalism Awards.
He is a Washington, D.C native and father of three.
Text & Images ©COPYRIGHT 2017 Kinglake Ranges News.
With Murrindindi Shire Council & Yea Library.
