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Open Book / Open Mind, Nicholas Kristof, "Chasing Hope"

A New York Times columnist, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, and best-selling author discusses his candid memoir of a life in journalism with Stephen Engelberg, editor in chief of ProPublica.

REGISTRATION IS OPEN! This is a ticketed event co-sponsored by Succeed2gether's Montclair Literary Festival and co-presented by The Montclair Local. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. After the discussion, there will be a Q&A period. Registration is required. Tickets are $35 and include a copy of the book which will be signed by Nicholas Kristof after the program. Watchung Booksellers will also be selling copies of Kristof's other books which he will be happy to sign. 

Open Book / Open Mind is sponsored by Montclair Public Library Foundation, Watchung Booksellers, the New Jersey Council on Humanities, Anonymous, David and Mary Lee Jones, and Dr. Alex and Doris Malaspina. We are also grateful for the generous support of our in-kind sponsors, First Congregational Church of Montclair, The George, and Amanti Vino. To support Open Book / Open Mind and other library programs, click here to donate.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nicholas D. Kristof is an op-ed columnist for The New York Times, where he was previously bureau chief in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Tokyo. He is the coauthor, with his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, of five previous books: "Tightrope," "A Path Appears," "Half the Sky," "Thunder from the East," and "China Wakes." He was awarded two Pulitzer Prizes, one with WuDunn in 1990 for their coverage of China, and the second in 2006 for his columns on Darfur. He lives in Yamhill, Oregon.

ABOUT THE BOOK

“Nick Kristof is a journalistic exemplar, practicing the art of storytelling in its purest form. He has a penchant for covering the stories too many shy away from—rolling up his sleeves and getting his hands dirty with the hope that it will motivate us to act. His North Star has never wavered. This book should be required reading for anyone interested in journalism, or for those who need to be reminded that, in the right hands, it can be a truly noble profession.”—Katie Couric

"Since 1984, Nicholas Kristof has worked almost continuously for The New York Times as a reporter, foreign correspondent, bureau chief, and now columnist, becoming one of the foremost reporters of his generation. Here, he recounts his event-filled path from a small-town farm in Oregon to every corner of the world.

Reporting from Hong Kong, Beijing, and Tokyo, while traveling far afield to India, Africa, and Europe, Kristof witnessed and wrote about century-defining events: the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, the Yemeni civil war, the Darfur genocide in Sudan, and the wave of addiction and despair that swept through his hometown and a broad swath of working-class America. Fully aware that coverage of atrocities generates considerably fewer page views than the coverage of politics, he nevertheless continued to weaponize his pen against regimes and groups violating basic human rights, raising the cost of oppression and torture. Some of the risks he took while doing so make for hair-raising reading.

Kristof writes about some of the great members of his profession and introduces us to extraordinary people he has met, such as the dissident whom he helped escape from China and a Catholic nun who browbeat a warlord into releasing schoolgirls he had kidnapped. These are the people, the heroes, who have allowed Kristof to remain optimistic."—Penguin Random House 

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

Stephen Engelberg was the founding managing editor of ProPublica from 2008–2012, and became editor-in-chief on January 1, 2013. He came to ProPublica from The Oregonian in Portland, where he had been a managing editor since 2002. Before joining The Oregonian, Engelberg worked for The New York Times for 18 years, including stints in Washington, D.C., and Warsaw, Poland, as well as in New York. He is a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board. Engelberg is a longtime resident of Montclair.

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