Wakefield resident to speak at URI, March 1

KINGSTON, R.I. – February 16, 2011 – Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter C.J. Chivers will deliver the 2011 Christiane Amanpour Lecture at the University of Rhode Island’s Swan Hall March 1 at 7 p.m.

A veteran of reporting from war hot spots around the world, Chivers’ lecture is titled Reporting From Afghanistan. In 2009, he was part of a team from The New York Times that won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for coverage in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the fall, his critically-acclaimed book The Gun: The AK-47 and the Evolution of War (Simon & Schuster) was released. It examines the origins of the Kalashnikov AK-47 – the world’s most abundant weapon – and the consequences of its spread.

Chivers, who worked for The Providence Journal from 1995 through 1999, reports on conflict, politics, crime and human rights primarily in Afghanistan, Iraq, Russia, Georgia and Chechnya. From June 2004 through 2008, he served as Moscow correspondent and also covered war zones or conflict in the Palestinian territories, Israel and Central Asia.

From 1999 until 2001 he was a metro reporter covering crime and law enforcement in New York City, where he covered the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Before embarking on a journalism career, Chivers served in the United States Marine Corps from 1988 until 1994 as an infantry officer. He served in the Persian Gulf War and performed peacekeeping duties as an infantry company commander during the Los Angeles riots before he was honorably discharged as a captain in 1994.

In addition to the 2009 Pulitzer Prize, Chivers received Livingston Award for International Journalism for a series on the collapse of commercial fishing in the North Atlantic. Two of his stories in The Times from Afghanistan were nominated for the award of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2002. In 2007, his reconstruction for Esquire of the terrorist siege of a public school in Beslan, Russia, won the Michael Kelly Award and National Magazine Award for Reporting.

The Christiane Amanpour Lecture is named for the 1983 URI alumna and 1995 honorary degree recipient who anchors ABC News’ This Week. Amanpour is the former international correspondent for CNN, and she endows the annual speaker series, which is designed to help the University bring well-respected professional journalists to campus.

The event is coordinated by URI’s Journalism Department.

(Information from www.nytimes.com was used for this release).

Pictured above

C.J. Chivers, of Wakefield, will deliver the 2011 Christiane Amanpour Lecture in Swan Hall on March 1.

Chivers has covered war zones around the world for The New York Times, including extensive time in Afghanistan.

Photo Credit:

Tyler Hicks

The New York Times