The Butchering Art Wins PEN / E.O. Wilson Prize

February 24, 2018 By John E. Riutta in Marginalia Tags: art, butchering, fitzharris, literary, marginalia, News, PEN, prize, Wilson

Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris has won the PEN / E.O. Wilson Prize for Literary Science Writing. for her The Butchering Art; Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine.

Awarded “for a book that exemplifies literary excellence on the subject of the physical or biological sciences and communicates complex scientific concepts to a lay audience,” the prize carries with it a cash award of $10,000.

Having long followed and admired the writing of Dr. Fitzharris in her The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice blog, and having been wholly captivated by the remarkable tale she wove in The Butchering Art (it was reviewed in The Well-read Naturalist back in November of 2017), it is with great enthusiasm that I extend to her most hearty congratulations indeed on this much-deserved honor.

John E. Riutta

Founder and publisher of The Well-read Naturalist. Inveterate autodidact. Has repeatedly been found out standing in many fields. Plays well with otters.

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