Å·ÃÀÊÓƵ is launching a new author residency program to celebrate reading, the rich relationships between author and audience, and the world of ideas, imagination, and discovery. The first event will be Thursday, March 16, 2023, at 7:30 p.m. in the Centrum, Knutson Campus Center. Host John Ydstie ’74 will moderate a conversation with award-winning science authors Ed Yong, “An Immense World,” and Suzanne Simard, “Finding the Mother Tree.”

“We are very excited to bring these influential authors to the Fargo Moorhead community,” said Laura Probst, Concordia’s library director. “Through their writing, we have new lenses to view the marvel of the world and the interconnectedness of our environment.” 

In his reporting and in his nonfiction books, Yong expresses deep care for accurate, nuanced, and empathetic reporting; clear and vivid storytelling; and social equality. He writes about everything that is or was once alive, from the microbes that secretly rule the world to the species that are blinking out of it, and from the people who are working to make science more reliable to those who are using it to craft policies. In addition to writing for The Atlantic, Yong’s reporting has been featured in National Geographic, The New York Times, and Scientific American, among others.

Simard’s nonfiction book, “Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest,” is a moving, deeply personal journey of discovery from one of the world’s leading forest ecologists, who forever changed how people view trees and their connections to one another. Her work has influenced filmmakers (such as James Cameron’s “Avatar”), and her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide. Simard is a professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia.

Ydstie covered the economy, Wall Street, and the federal budget for NPR for two decades and was a regular guest host on the NPR news programs Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition, and Talk of the Nation. Ydstie retired in November 2019.

The event is open to the public free of charge with a reception and book signing to follow.