Author, journalist Williams named Science Writer in Residence

Florence Williams, a prolific, award-winning author and science journalist, has been named the spring 2014 Science Writer in Residence for the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

A contributing editor at Outside magazine and a freelance writer for venues such as The New York Times Magazine, Slate, Mother Jones and High Country News, among others, Williams will spend the week of Feb. 23 on the UW–Madison campus working and sharing her expertise with students, faculty and staff. The Washington, D.C.-based Williams mostly covers the environment, health and science.

In addition to her prolific output as a freelance journalist, Williams has also chalked up remarkable success as an author. Her first book, Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History, received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Science and Technology and the 2013 Audie in general nonfiction.

On Tuesday, Feb. 25, Williams will deliver a public lecture, “Writing the Human Body: From Research to Narrative in Popular Science Writing.” The lecture, free and open to the public, will be at 4 p.m. that day in UW–Madison’s Union South.

The UW–Madison Science Writer in Residence Program, now in its 29th year, was established with the help of the Brittingham Trust and continues with support from the UW Foundation. Past visiting writers include many of the nation’s leading science writers, including three whose work subsequently earned them the Pulitzer Prize.

The UW–Madison Science Writer in Residence Program is sponsored by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and University Communications.