Paul Bogard

writer

A native Minnesotan, Paul Bogard loves night’s natural darkness. So much so that he wrote two successful books about it. He is the author of The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light, and the editor of Let There Be Night: Testimony on Behalf of the Dark. He also likes to walk through the woods, surrounded by the trees and birds and hidden animals. For fifteen years he had a dog who would come with him on these walks. Her name was Luna, like the moon. He misses her a lot. He loves coffee in the morning and red wine at night. Paul is now an assistant professor at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, where he teaches creative writing and environmental literature. He has a new book coming out in 2017. Find him at paul-bogard.com.

Why we invited him?

I read a fantastic longread about light pollution and I have been thinking about this topic ever since. I also had a personal experience with this issue last year when I had to fight a local gambling club that placed a large blinking neon sign right across our windows. Paul has been talking about this issue for several years now, and he wrote two successful books about it. It is not well known, but both light and darkness are essential for life. Maybe you do not even realise how much. (Dana Retová)