ISSUED: 15 October 2013
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Shepherd University’s Common Reading program will present the film “The Last Mountain” on Wednesday, October 23 at 6 p.m. in the Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies auditorium. The film is free and open to the public.
An official selection of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, “The Last Mountain” examines the efforts of citizens in the Coal River Valley of West Virginia as they attempt to stop coal corporations from using mountaintop removal as a means to extract coal.
Rob Goodwin of the Coal River Mountain Watch will introduce the film and lead a post-film discussion.
Shepherd’s Common Reading book for the year is “Strange as This Weather Has Been” by Ann Pancake, who will present a lecture on Tuesday, November 5 at 7 p.m. in the Frank Center Theater. Set in present day West Virginia, “Strange as This Weather Has Been” tells the story of a coal mining family living through the latest mining boom and the destructive reality of mountaintop removal. It was selected as one of Kirkus Review’s Top Ten Fiction Books of 2007, won the 2007 Weatherford Award, and was a 2008 Orion Book Award finalist.
For more information about Shepherd’s Common Reading programs, call 304-876-5461 or visit www.shepherd.edu/commonreading .
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