Elizabeth Rush is an American non-fiction author best known for her books The Quickening: Antarctica, Motherhood, and Cultivating Hope in a Warming World and Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore, the latter of which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. [1]
Rush is known for her environmental non-fiction writing. Her book The Quickening details a 54-day expedition she joined with 57 scientists and crew to Thwaites Glacier on Antarctica in 2019. [2] She applied to be part of the mission through the "Antarctic Artists & Writers Program" in which two artists or writers are sent to Antarctica per year, filling a 60-page application for the opportunity. [2]
In addition to her writing, Rush teaches creative non-fiction at Brown University. [3]
Rush received a BA in English from Reed College in 2006. In 2010, she received a MFA from Southern New Hampshire University. [3] Rush lives with her husband and son in Providence, Rhode Island. [4] Her husband is a Columbian immigrant. [4]
Her book Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction. [5]
The Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands is an Australian external territory comprising a volcanic group of mostly barren Antarctic islands, about two-thirds of the way from Madagascar to Antarctica. The group's overall land area is 372 km2 (144 sq mi) and it has 101.9 km (63 mi) of coastline. Discovered in the mid-19th century, the islands lie on the Kerguelen Plateau in the Indian Ocean and have been an Australian territory since 1947.
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published during the preceding calendar year.
The Pulitzer Prize for History, administered by Columbia University, is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished book about the history of the United States. Thus it is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were awarded that year. The Pulitzer Prize program has also recognized some historical work with its Biography prize, from 1917, and its General Nonfiction prize, from 1962.
Nilanjana Sudeshna "Jhumpa" Lahiri is a British-American author known for her short stories, novels, and essays in English and, more recently, in Italian.
Vinson Massif is a large mountain massif in Antarctica that is 21 km (13 mi) long and 13 km (8 mi) wide and lies within the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains. It overlooks the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. The massif is located about 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) from the South Pole. Vinson Massif was discovered in January 1958 by U.S. Navy aircraft. In 1961, the Vinson Massif was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN), after Carl G. Vinson, United States congressman from the state of Georgia, for his support for Antarctic exploration. On November 1, 2006, US-ACAN declared Mount Vinson and Vinson Massif to be separate entities. Vinson Massif lies within the unrecognised Chilean claim under the Antarctic Treaty System.
Arch Colson Chipp Whitehead is an American novelist. He is the author of nine novels, including his 1999 debut The Intuitionist; The Underground Railroad (2016), for which he won the 2016 National Book Award for Fiction and the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; and The Nickel Boys, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction again in 2020, making him one of only four writers ever to win the prize twice. He has also published two books of nonfiction. In 2002, he received a MacArthur Fellowship.
Russell D. Owen was an American journalist employed by The New York Times. He covered Arctic and Antarctic exploration both as a reporter and in books. Owen Peak, originally named "Mount Russell Owen," was named in his honor after having traveled as a Times correspondent with the first Byrd Antarctic Expedition (1928-30).
Marie Byrd Land (MBL) is an unclaimed region of Antarctica. With an area of 1,610,000 km2 (620,000 sq mi), it is the largest unclaimed territory on Earth. It was named after the wife of American naval officer Richard E. Byrd, who explored the region in the early 20th century.
Molodyozhnaya was a Soviet, then Russian research station in East Antarctica at 67°40′S 45°50′E. After being mothballed in 1990, it was reopened in 2006 to operate on a seasonal basis. In Russian, the station is sometimes referred to as the capital of Antarctica.
Jean McNeil, born 1968, is a Canadian fiction and travel author. She is a Reader in Creative Writing and co-convenor of the MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.
Laila Lalami is a Moroccan-American novelist, essayist, and professor. After earning her licence ès lettres degree in Morocco, she received a fellowship to study in the United Kingdom (UK), where she earned an MA in linguistics.
The Hays Mountains are a large group of mountains and peaks of the Queen Maud Mountains of Antarctica, surmounting the divide between the lower portions of Amundsen Glacier and Scott Glacier and extending from the vicinity of Mount Thorne on the northwest to Mount Dietz on the southeast.
Aitkenhead Glacier is a 10 nautical miles long glacier flowing east-southeast from the Detroit Plateau, Graham Land, into Prince Gustav Channel.
Lucy Jane Bledsoe is an American novelist who often writes about the intersection of family, wilderness and survival.
Mount Friesland is a mountain rising to 1,700.2 metres (5,578 ft) in the homonymous Friesland Ridge, one of the two summits of Tangra Mountains and Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica along with neighbouring St. Boris Peak. Its north rib is connected to Pliska Ridge by Nesebar Gap on the west, and to Bowles Ridge by Wörner Gap on the north. On the east, Mount Friesland is connected to Presian Ridge and further on to Catalunyan Saddle and Lyaskovets Peak. On the south-southwest, it is connected by a short saddle to ‘The Synagogue’ a sharp-peaked rock-cored ice formation abutting St. Boris Peak. The peak is heavily glaciated and crevassed, surmounting Huntress Glacier to the west, Perunika Glacier to the north-northwest, Huron Glacier to the northeast and Macy Glacier to the southeast. The local weather is notoriously unpleasant and challenging; according to the seasoned Antarctic mountaineer Damien Gildea who climbed in the area, 'just about the worst weather in the world'.
Paul Harding is an American musician and author, best known for his debut novel Tinkers (2009), which won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the 2010 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, among other honors. He is currently the director of the Creative Writing and Literature MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton, as well as Interim Associate Provost of Stony Brook University's Lichtenstein Center.
Felicity Ann Dawn Aston is a British explorer, author and climate scientist.
Laura Pritchett is an American author whose work is rooted in the natural world. Known for championing the complex and contemporary American West and giving voice to the working class, her books have garnered the PEN USA Award, the Milkweed National Fiction Prize, the WILLA, the High Plains Book Award, and others. Both her fiction and nonfiction often focus on issues of ecology, conservation, climate change, and social justice issues.
Ingrid Christensen was an early polar explorer. She was known as the first woman to view Antarctica and land on the Antarctic mainland.