Investigative Journalist of ‘The Map Thief’ Presents Lecture at Lafayette

 
Michael Blanding, a Boston-based investigative journalist and author of The Map Thief, The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps, will speak at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22 in the Gendebien Room of Skillman Library at Lafayette College. A reception and book signing will follow.

The talk is the 2015 Paul and June Schlueter Lecture in the Art of the Book. It is free and open to the public.

Blanding will tell the story of a map-dealer-turned-criminal, E. Forbes Smiley III, who was caught in 2005 after stealing rare maps from libraries around the county. He will also talk about the importance of the maps stolen and the implications of such thefts for library security.

Click to Tweet, http://ctt.ec/m4hRc:  Thurs. Oct. 22, @LafCol: @MichaelBlanding presents “The Map Thief,” 2015 Schlueter Lecture, 4:30 p.m. @LafLib

His first book, The Code Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World’s Favorite Soft Drink, was published by Avery/Penguin in 2010. His latest, The Map Thief, was published by Gotham Books in June 2014 and named NPR Book of the Year, with high praise from the Wall Street Journal and others.

A graduate of Williams College, Blanding is currently a senior fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University and a staff writer at Harvard Business School. He has also co-written several travel guides to New England destinations for Moon Handbooks, and taught journalism at Emerson College, Northeastern University, and Grub Street Writers.

The event is sponsored by the Schlueter Lecture Series with support from Skillman Library and the Friends of Skillman Library.

The Schlueter Lecture Series was established in 2007 by Drs. Paul and June Schlueter in support of

Skillman Library’s Special Collections. The donors intended that the lecture series cover a range of topics associated with the history, culture, production, conservation, and collection of books of all time periods and in all formats.

For more information, contact Diane Windham Shaw at (610) 330-5148, shawd@lafayette.edu.
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Photos: Courtesy of Lafayette College; Michael Blanding

Kristine Y. Todaro
Director/Special Projects & Media Relations
Lafayette College
610-330-5119
LafColnews@lafayette.edu
www.lafayette.edu

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