Elizabeth Kolbert (born 1961) is an American journalist, author, and visiting fellow at

Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...

. She is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning book '' The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History'', and as an observer and commentator on the environment for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' magazine. The Sixth Extinction was a ''New York Times'' bestseller and won the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

’'' book prize for science and technology. Her book ''

Under a White Sky ''Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future'' is a 2021 environmental book by Elizabeth Kolbert. The book follows many of the themes she explored in ''The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History.'' Summary ''Under a White Sky'' is focused on ...

'' was one of the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

’s'' ten best books of the 2021. Kolbert is a two-time National Magazine Award winner, and was awarded the BBVA Biophilia Award for Environmental Communication in 2022. Her work has appeared in ''

The Best American Science and Nature Writing ''The Best American Science and Nature Writing'' is a yearly anthology of popular science magazine articles published in the United States. It was started in 2000 and is part of ''The Best American Series'' published by Houghton Mifflin. Articles ...

'' and ''

The Best American Essays ''The Best American Essays'' is a yearly anthology of magazine articles published in the United States.Robert Atwan (ed.), Adam Gopnick (guest ed.). ''The Best American Essays 2008'', Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008. It was started in 1986 and is ...

''. Kolbert served as a member of the

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists The ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists'' is a nonprofit organization concerning science and global security issues resulting from accelerating technological advances that have negative consequences for humanity. The ''Bulletin'' publishes conte ...

' Science and Security Board from 2017 to 2020.

Early life

Kolbert spent her early childhood in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

; her family then relocated to

Larchmont Larchmont is a village located within the Town of Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York, approximately northeast of Midtown Manhattan. The population of the village was 5,864 at the 2010 census. In February 2019, Bloomberg ranked Lar ...

, where she remained until 1979. After graduating from Mamaroneck High School, Kolbert spent four years studying literature at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. In 1983, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study at Universität Hamburg, in Germany.

Career

Elizabeth Kolbert started working for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' as a

stringer Stringer may refer to: Structural elements * Stringer (aircraft), or longeron, a strip of wood or metal to which the skin of an aircraft is fastened * Stringer (slag), an inclusion, possibly leading to a defect, in cast metal * Stringer (stairs), ...

in Germany in 1983. In 1985 she went to work for the Metro desk. Kolbert served as the Times' Albany bureau chief from 1988 to 1991 and wrote the Metro Matters column from 1997 to 1998. Since 1999, she has been a staff writer for ''

''. She was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for ''The Sixth Extinction'' in 2015.

Personal life

Kolbert resides in

Williamstown, Massachusetts Williamstown is a town in the northern part of Berkshire County, in the northwest corner of Massachusetts, United States. It shares a border with Vermont to the north and New York to the west. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolit ...

, with her husband, John Kleiner, and three sons.

Recognition

* 2005 American Association for the Advancement of Science Journalism Award * 2006 National Magazine Award for Public Interest * 2006 Lannan Literary Fellowship * 2006 National Academies Communication Award * 16th Annual

Heinz Award The Heinz Awards are individual achievement honors given annually by the Heinz Family Foundation. The Heinz Awards each year recognize outstanding individuals for their innovative contributions in three areas: the Arts, the Economy and the Enviro ...

with special focus on global change, 2010 * 2010 National Magazine Award for Commentary * 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship in Science Writing * 2015 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction * 2016 Sam Rose '58 and Julie Walters Prize at Dickinson College for Environmental Activism * 2017 SEAL Environmental Journalism Award *Blake-Dodd Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2017.

Bibliography

Books

* * * * * *

Essays and reporting

* * * On White nose syndrome. * * * * * * * The

Paleolithic diet The Paleolithic diet, Paleo diet, caveman diet, or stone-age diet is a modern fad diet consisting of foods thought by its proponents to mirror those eaten by humans during the Paleolithic era. The diet avoids processed food and typically incl ...

. * Beecher's Trilobite Bed. * *

Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City ( ...

. * * * Title in the online table of contents is "Paris, Syria, and climate change". * Online version is titled "Morgan Freeman's 'Ben-Hur'". * * Online version is titled "Our automated future". * Online version is titled "Why facts don’t change our minds". * Online version is titled "

James Turrell James Turrell (born May 6, 1943) is an American artist known for his work within the Light and Space movement. Much of Turrell's career has been devoted to a still-unfinished work, ''Roden Crater'', a natural cinder cone crater located outsid ...

makes light physical". * Online version is titled "Climate change and the new age of extinction". * Online version is titled "The art of building artificial glaciers". * Online version is titled "What will another decade of climate crisis bring?". * Title in the online table of contents is "The climate expert who delivered news no one wanted to hear". Originally published in the June 29, 2009, issue. * A review of Martin J. Sherwin's ''Gambling with armageddon : nuclear roulette from Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis'' (New York : Knopf, 2020). Includes information from recently declassified sources.

Introductions, forewords and other contributions

Critical studies and reviews of Kolbert's work

;''Field notes from a catastrophe'' * ;''The sixth extinction'' * ;''Under a white sky'' * ——————— ;Notes

References

External links

*
"An Interview with Elizabeth Kolbert"
''

Natural Resources Defense Council The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States-based 501(c)(3) non-profit international environmental advocacy group, with its headquarters in New York City and offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Bo ...

'' (NRDC) 2006 *
“Focus 580; The Climate of Man,”
2005-05-27, WILL Illinois Public Media, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed June 7, 2021. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kolbert, Elizabeth American non-fiction environmental writers American environmentalists American women environmentalists 1961 births Living people American women journalists American women non-fiction writers Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction winners The New Yorker staff writers Journalists from New York City Writers from the Bronx Yale University alumni University of Hamburg alumni People from Larchmont, New York Jewish American journalists 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers People from Williamstown, Massachusetts Mamaroneck High School alumni 21st-century American Jews