CSAW Award-Winning Author to Speak Dec. 11 at WT

Copy by Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, [email protected]

CANYON, Texas - The award-winning author of a book on hope in the face of water scarcity will discuss his work Dec. 11 at a special event for West Texas A&M University's Center for the Study of the American West.

Zak Podmore's "Life After Dead Pool: Lake Powell's Last Days and the Rebirth of the Colorado River" was named the winner of CSAW's 2025 Bonney MacDonald Award for Outstanding Western Book in October.

He will speak at 6 p.m. Dec. 11 in the atrium of Cornette Library in the heart of WT's Canyon campus. Admission is free, and the first 10 arrivals will receive a free copy of Podmore's book.

Additional copies will be available for purchase through Burrowing Owl Books. A Q&A will be held, and Podmore will sign copies of his book.

Podmore, an award-winning author and journalist who has written about water and conservation issues for more than a decade, explores the history and future of Lake Powell, a reservoir controversially created in 1963 in Utah and Arizona when the Glen Canyon Dam was constructed and flooded the eponymous canyon. Water levels have dropped significantly since 2000, and previously flooded canyon lands are being revived.

"I am thrilled that the Bonney MacDonald Award committee chose a book that speaks to the most essential issue facing all Westerners-water scarcity," Dr. Alex Hunt, CSAW director, Regents Professor of English and Vincent-Haley Professor of Western Studies, said when the award was announced. "I am all the more pleased because Podmore's approach to the serious problems facing us is one that points to a hopeful future rather than leaving us in the dry lakebed of despair."

CSAW has given the Bonney McDonald Outstanding Western Book Award annually since 2019.

Promoting regional research is a key aim of the University's long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.

That plan is fueled by the historic One West comprehensive fundraising campaign, which reached its initial $125 million goal 18 months after publicly launching in September 2021. The campaign has raised more than $175 million and will continue through 2025.

About West Texas A&M University

A Regional Research University, West Texas A&M University is redefining excellence in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus, as well as the Harrington Academic Hall WTAMU Amarillo Center in downtown Amarillo. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. WT boasts an enrollment of more than 9,000 and offers 66 undergraduate degree programs, including eight associate degrees; and 44 graduate degrees, including an integrated bachelor's and master's degree, a specialist degree and two doctoral degrees. WT recently earned a Carnegie Foundation classification as a Research College and University. The University also is home to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, the largest history museum in the state and the home of one of the Southwest's finest art collections. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference and offers 16 men's and women's athletics programs.

-WT-