Award-winning nature writer to discuss his new book at UF

May 17, 2006

Bill Belleville, award-winning nature writer and winner of an Emmy for producing “Wekiva: Legacy or Loss?,” will discuss his new book “Losing It All to Sprawl: How Progress Ate My Cracker Landscape” at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the Special Collections Research Room at Smathers Library.

“Losing It All to Sprawl” is the poignant chronicle of how Belleville came to understand and love his historic farmhouse and “relic” neighborhood in central Florida, even as it was all wiped out from under him. Belleville’s narrative is eloquent, informed, and impassioned, a saga in which tractors and backhoes trample through the woods next to his home in order to build the backbone of Florida sprawl – the mall.

Belleville has written for such publications as Newsweek, New York Times Syndicate, Audubon, Sierra, and Oxford American. His books include the critically acclaimed “River of Lakes: A Journey on Florida’s St. Johns River. In 1995, Belleville was named Environmental Writer of the Year by Florida Audubon Society and Florida Wildlife Federation. Contact Bill: billybx@gate.net.

For information about “LOSING IT ALL TO SPRAWL”: http://www.upf.com/book.asp?id=BELLEF05.