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Investigative journalist and non-fiction writer Eric Schlosser will open the spring season of the University of Memphis’ River City Writers Series on Wednesday, February 4, when he discusses his book Fast Food Nation at 7 p.m. at the Memphis Pink Palace Museum IMAX Theater.  A reception will precede the lecture at 6 p.m.  Both events are free and open to the public.

Schlosser has been a correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly since 1996. His work has also appeared in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, the Nation, and The New Yorker. He has received a National Magazine Award and a Sidney Hillman Foundation Award for reporting.

In 1998 Schlosser wrote an investigative piece on the fast food industry for Rolling Stone. What began as a two-part article for the magazine turned into the groundbreaking book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. The book helped change not only the way Americans think about what they eat, but about their diet’s impact on every aspect of life. Fast Food Nation was on the New York Times bestseller list for more than two years, as well as on bestseller lists in Canada, Great Britain, and Japan. It has been translated into more than 20 languages.

Schlosser’s second book, Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market, explored the nation’s growing underground economy. It also became a New York Times bestseller. In 2003, Schlosser’s first play, Americans, was produced at the Arcola Theatre in London. Schlosser is currently at work on a book about America’s prison system.

Hoping to counter the enormous amount of fast food marketing aimed at children, Schlosser decided to write a book that would help young people understand where their food comes from, how it’s made, how it affects society, and how it can harm their health. Co-written with Charles Wilson, Chew on This: Everything You Don’t Want to Know About Fast Food  became a New York Times bestseller in 2006.  Later that year, Fox Searchlight Pictures released a major motion picture based on Fast Food Nation, directed by Richard Linklater and co-written with Schlosser. 

Schlosser’s talk is presented in conjunction with the Marcus W. Orr Center for the Humanities and Memphis Reads.