Reading: Broughton Coburn May 3, 2005

Best-selling author Broughton Coburn will present an illustrated lecture program titled ?Aama?s Journey: Between Cultures and Continents? at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 3 at Carleton College?s Gould Library Athenaeum. The event is free and open to the public.

Coburn has presented the program at clubs, museums, associations, social groups and universities across the nation. Based on his book titled ?Nepali Aama: Life Lessons of a Himalayan Woman? and its sequel, ?Aama in America: A Pilgrimage of the Heart,? the program follows the life of an 84 year-old Himalayan subsistence farmer and her journey to the United States. Acclaimed as an illustrated lecture program, Coburn?s presentation currently is being developed into a feature film screenplay. Life Magazine has called Coburn?s presentation ?an entirely new vision of America through the eyes of a remarkable woman.?

A best selling author and recipient of the American Alpine Club?s Literary Achievement Award, Coburn has spent two decades in Nepal and the Himalayas, administering conservation and development efforts for the United Nations, World Wildlife Fund, World Bank and other agencies. A 1973 Harvard University graduate, his third book, ?Everest: Mountain Without Mercy,? was 17th on the New York Times Bestseller list. It has sold more than 350,000 copies, considered exceptional for a large-format illustrated book. Coburn also has authored a young adult photo-biography book titled ?Triumph on Everest, A Photobiography of Sir Edmund Hillary? for National Geographic Books. It was selected as a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People by the National Council for Social Studies and the Children?s Book Council. In April of 2001, Coburn co-authored ?Touching My Father?s Soul: A Sherpa?s Journey to the Top of Everest? with Jamling Tenzing Norgay. Reaching seventh on the BookSense list and 24th on the New York Times bestseller list, it was selected as Honorable Mention at the 2001 Banff Mountain Book Festival and was a finalist in the 2001 Books for a Better Life.

Coburn has written magazine articles for New Age, Rock and Ice, The Denver Post Magazine, Co-Evolution Quarterly and Worldview, among others. He has toured 18 cities for his first two books and has delivered presentations at eight Everest IMAX film premieres. He is now editing a large format book on the Himalayas and is currently writing a series of 1960s and 1970s historical fiction titles set in the Himalayas. He also is the Special Projects Director for the American Himalayan Foundation, a San Francisco-based organization bringing education, health care and environmental conservation to Himalayan villagers.

For more information and disability accommodations, call Jill Tollefson in Carleton?s Asian studies department at (507) 646-4232.