Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Fire Weather in a Hotter World
John Vaillant
Author & Journalist
FREE Public Lecture
In May 2016, Fort McMurray, the hub of Canada’s oil industry and America’s biggest foreign supplier, was overrun by wildfire. The multi-billion-dollar disaster melted vehicles, turned entire neighborhoods into firebombs, and drove 88,000 people from their homes in a single afternoon. Through the lens of this apocalyptic conflagration—the wildfire equivalent of Hurricane Katrina—in his fourth book, Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World, John Vaillant warns that this was not a unique event, but a shocking preview of what we must prepare for in a hotter, more flammable world. Vaillant will describe the anthropological history between humans and fire, how it has shaped our societies, and how it now threatens us in the context of climate change.
When:
November 3, 2026
Doors Open 6:30 PM, Lecture 7:00 PM
After the talk: Book signing coordinated by Audrey’s Books.
In-Person
Venue TBD on U of A Main Campus
FREE Tickets on Eventbrite
Online via Zoom
Register here (free)
About John Vaillant
John Vaillant is an author and freelance writer based in Vancouver, BC whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, National Geographic, and The Guardian, among others. His journalism, fiction, and non-fiction explores collisions between human ambition and the natural world. His latest book is the 2024 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in General Nonfiction, Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World (Knopf, 2023), a stunning account of a colossal wildfire and a panoramic exploration of the rapidly changing relationship between fire and humankind.