Writers Roundtable

On Monday, September 9th, we'll welcome three fantastic writers to class.

Tamara Jones is our Pollner Professor this semester. She's teaching a course called "Training the Professional Observer." Jones has had a long career in journalism, including eight years with the Associated Press, first as a national correspondent based in New York City and later as a foreign correspondent based in Germany; six years working for the Los Angeles Times as a bureau chief, both in Denver and in Bonn, Germany; and 15 years at the Washington Post, where she shared a Pulitzer for reporting on the Virginia Tech massacre. She was also a Pulitzer finalist in feature writing in 2004. Most recently she has been a freelance writer, including ghostwriting the New York Times bestseller, “The End of Normal,” by Stephanie Madoff Mack.

Gwen Florio is famous in Missoula, most recently for her coverage of the rape trial of UM Grizzly quarterback Jordan Johnson. She has covered stories ranging from the shootings at Columbine High School and the trials of Oklahoma City bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, to the glitz of the Miss America pageant and the more practical Miss Navajo contest, whose contestants slaughter a sheep. She's reported from Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, as well as Lost Springs, Wyoming (population three). Her first novel comes out in October.

And you'll meet the man behind the lens, Alex Sakariassen. Alex is a staff writer at the Missoula Independent alternative newsweekly specializing in long-form stories about conservation, state and federal politics and campaign finance. He's a regular contributor for the outdoors magazine Montana Headwall, and writes about craft beer more often than any paid professional probably should. He's a North Dakota native and 2008 graduate of the University of Montana's School of Journalism where he worked on the Arts desk for four years.