Reporter Dan Chapman to speak at Writer’s Museum

Published 3:42 pm Thursday, June 1, 2023

EATONTON, Ga. — John Muir set out on foot in 1867 to explore the botanical wonders of the South, keeping a detailed journal of his adventures from Kentucky to Florida. One hundred and fifty years later, veteran Atlanta reporter Dan Chapman recreated Muir’s journey to see how nature has fared since Muir’s time. Chapman seeks to discover how Southerners might balance surging population growth with protecting the natural beauty Muir found so special. The result is a riveting book as exciting as James Dickey’s “Deliverance” and as expressive as Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea.”

Dan Chapman will be Georgia Writers Museum’s Meet the Author presenter on Tuesday, June 6, at the museum at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. He will present his newest book, “A Road Running Southward: Following John Muir’s Journey Through an Endangered Land.” 

Tickets are $20 each ($15 each for two or more) and $100 for a table of six (a savings of $20). Refreshments will be provided. After his presentation, Dan will sign copies of his book. To register, contact Georgia Writers Museum at 706-991-5119 or www.georgiawritersmuseum.org. Preorder copis of his book can be placed online.

“A Road Running Southward” is part travelogue, part environmental appeal, and paints a picture of a South under siege. It is a passionate call to action to save one of the loveliest and most biodiverse regions of the world by understanding the massive loss if we do nothing. Each chapter touches upon a local ecological problem — water wars in Georgia, climate change in the Nantahala National Forest, aquifer depletion in Florida — that all resonate across the South. Along the way, he talks to locals with deep ties to the land, who describe the changes they’ve witnessed. “Engaging hybrid — part lyrical travelogue, part investigative journalism, and part jeremiad, all shot through with droll humor,” wrote the Atlanta Journal-Constitution book reviewer.

Chapman is a writer, reporter, and lover of the outdoors. He grew up in Washington, D.C. and Tokyo, the son of a newspaperman and an English teacher. He worked for Congressional Quarterly, The Winston-Salem Journal, The Charlotte Observer, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has also reported from Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. He currently writes stories about conservation in the South for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A Road Running Southward was selected in 2023 by the Center for the Book as one of the “Books All Georgians Should Read.”

The Georgia Writer’s Museum is located at 109 S Jefferson Avenue, Eatonton.