Award-winning journalist to discuss author John D. MacDonald’s environmental themes

One Book One Community sessions planned on March 26 in Venice and Osprey

Logo courtesy Sarasota County
Logo courtesy Sarasota County

Award-winning journalist Craig Pittman will present A Flash of Green: John D. MacDonald and Florida’s Environment at two Sarasota County libraries on Saturday, March 26, the county has announced.

The late MacDonald —whose works are being featured as part of this year’s One Book, One Community celebration sponsored by Sarasota County Libraries and Historical Resources — “included discussions of Florida environmental issues in his books long before such concerns were considered fashionable,” a news release explains. Pittman will talk about MacDonald’s environmental activism in his hometown of Sarasota, the green themes MacDonald worked into his books “and how things have changed since then — or not,” the release adds.

Pittman’s presentations will be at 10:30 a.m. at Jacaranda Library, located at 4143 Woodmere Park Blvd. in Venice; and at 2 p.m. at Osprey Library at Historic Spanish Point, located at 337 N. Tamiami Trail in Osprey.

“Since 1998, Tampa Bay Times reporter Pittman has covered plenty of Florida’s environmental issues: its vanishing wetlands, the troubles facing its springs and the future of its panthers and manatees,” the release points out. He has won the Waldo Proffitt Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism in Florida four times and twice has received the top investigative reporting award from the Society of Environmental Journalists. He is the author of three books: Paving Paradise, Manatee Insanity and The Scent of Scandal. His fourth book, Oh, Florida! How America’s Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country, will be released this summer, the release notes.

More One Book, One Community programming information may be found at www.onebooksarasota.com.

For additional information, call the Sarasota County Contact Center at 941-861-5000 or visit www.scgov.net.