Craig Pittman posing with a panther crossing sign on State Road 60.
This presentation is being Sponsored by
Apalachee Audubon and
the Sierra Club Big Bend Group
In Person: Book sale and signing starts at 6:00 PM. Midtown Reader will be there
and selling Craig’s books, including Cat Tale.
Announcements at 7:00 PM | Program will begin at 7:15 PM
PLEASE READ important update about parking below.
Zoom Registration Link: https://bit.ly/45woHJZ
It wasn’t so long ago when a lot of people thought the Florida panther was extinct. They were very nearly right. That the panther still exists at all is a miracle—the result of a desperate experiment that led to the most remarkable comeback in the history of the Endangered Species Act.
Craig Pittman is a native Floridian, a best-selling author, a podcaster and an award-winning environmental reporter. Born in Pensacola, he graduated from Troy State University in Alabama, where his muckraking work for the student paper prompted an agitated dean to label him "the most destructive force on campus." In 40 years as a newspaper reporter, he covered a variety of beats and quite a few natural disasters, including hurricanes, wildfires and the Florida Legislature. After 31 years at the Tampa Bay Times, he now writes a weekly column on environmental issues for the Florida Phoenix and is co-host of the popular podcast "Welcome to Florida."
Craig is the author of six non-fiction books about what he calls "The Most Interesting State," including the New York Times bestseller Oh, Florida: How America's Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country and Cat Tale: The Wild Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther, which Garden & Gun magazine named one of the 20 best books of 2020. His most recent one, published in 2021, is The State You're In: Florida Men, Florida Women, and Other Wildlife. The Florida Heritage Book Festival named him a Florida Literary Legend in 2020. In 2022 he was given the Rachel Carson Award by the national Sierra Club. He lives in St. Petersburg with his wife and two children.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: This year we have been assigned parking in the Stadium Drive parking garage, on Spirit Way off of Stadium Drive. At the traffic light on Stadium Drive, turn onto Spirit Way, then turn left into the parking garage and you will be at the second floor. Please park on the second floor or above. We will have people directing program attendees to the appropriate areas. Do not park in the areas marked by a red X or you might get towed.
