Charles Pierce to Speak at SUNY Plattsburgh

PLATTSBURGH, NY (11/09/2009)(readMedia)-- Charles Pierce, the renowned sports journalist, National Public Radio contributor and author of the best-selling book "Idiot America," will give a speech on media, ethics and the law at the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh, Thursday, Dec. 3 in Krinovitz Recital Hall, Hawkins Hall, at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

"There is only one Charles Pierce," said journalist Eric Alterman, according to Pierce's Web site. "His unique combination of gonzo, erudition, fearlessness, and eloquence ... help us make sense of a senseless world. I stand in awe, and appreciation."

The event is being sponsored by the New York Newspaper Foundation and the college's Center for Communication and Journalism. It is free and open to the public.

Pierce has written for the alternative press, including Worcester Magazine and The Boston Phoenix, and was a sports columnist for The Boston Herald. He was a feature writer and columnist for the late, lamented sports daily The National. He has been a writer-at-large for a men's fashion magazine, and his work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The L.A. Times Magazine, The Nation, The Atlantic, and The Chicago Tribune, among others. He appears weekly on National Public Radio's sports program "Only a Game" and is a regular panelist on NPR's game show "Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell Me!" Since July 1997, he has been a writer at large at Esquire, and, in April 2002, he joined the staff of The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine.

He is also the recipient of numerous professional awards and honors. On several occasions, he was named a finalist for the Associated Press Sports Editor's award for best column writing. He was a 1996 National Magazine Award finalist for his piece on Alzheimer's disease, "In the Country of My Disease," and has expanded the piece into a book: "Hard to Forget: An Alzheimer's Story," for Random House.

In 2004, he won a National Headliners Award for his Globe Magazine piece, "Deconstructing Ted." His sportswriting has been anthologized in "Sports Guy: In Search of Corkball," "Warroad Hockey," "Hooters Golf," "Tiger Woods," and "The Big, Big Game."