Award-winning author featured

An award-winning author will speak in Oberlin Sept. 23 to promote her new book about fracking.

Eliza Griswold will appear at 4 p.m. at The First Church in Oberlin, 106 N. Main St., to kick off Oberlin’s CollegeCommunity Ecolympics.

The Rev. John D. Elder, pastor of First Church, said the visit is part of Griswold’s book tour for “Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America,” which deals with the impact of fracking.

“In 2013, we passed our ban on fracking and fracking infrastructure, and many of us have been concerned with the impact of fracking,” Elder said. “So, when Eliza Griswold’s book came out that tells the story of the health impact on a family and their neighbors, and told the story so beautifully, I thought, ‘I wish she would come to Oberlin.’

“And she responded to our call, so that was great.”

Elder said copies of Griswold’s book will be available at the event and she will sign them for those who wish.

“(I want attendees) to hear in her story the importance of individuals and community groups working patiently and persistently to get justice when there is physical, health, economic harm from an industry that needs to be regulated, but has such ties to the regulatory agencies that the rules are not being maintained,” Elder said.

The Oberlin College Office of Environmental Sustainability and the First Church Green Team is sponsoring the event.

Griswold has received various awards for her writing, translations and journalism and is currently a distinguished writer in residence at New York University.

She lives in New York City with her husband and son, according to a news release.

Griswold