Elizabeth Farnsworth Book Launch

Author Visit

Journalist Elizabeth Farnsworth (PBS Newshour) will discuss her first novella, Last Light, historical fiction set in Topeka & the Flint Hills inspired by true events. She will also answer questions.

Celebrated journalist Elizabeth Farnsworth (PBS Newshour, multiple Emmy nominations) has written her first novella, and it is set in Topeka and the Flint Hills. Last Light is historical fiction inspired by true events. Farnsworth will chat about the history and landscape that inspired her story, writing, and of course share anecdotes from her fascinating life. She will also answer questions about the novella and her long career as a foreign correspondent and Jim Lehrer’s substitute anchor on the NewsHour.

More about Last Light:
In the summer of 1943, a young woman is hired to interpret for German prisoners of war at a U.S. Army Hospital in Kansas. Harboring dark secrets from her childhood, Isabelle Graham will be forced into a struggle that saves her own life as well as many others in the distant, ongoing war. Last light is a thrilling and moving account of a young woman's courage and determination in the face of seemingly insuperable odds.

Elizabeth Farnsworth's full bio:

Elizabeth Farnsworth, documentary filmmaker and former chief correspondent of the PBS NewsHour, has written for publications ranging from The Nation Magazine to Foreign Policy.

Her memoir, A Train Through Time: A Life, Real and Imagined, was published by Counterpoint Press in 2017.

Farnsworth’s documentary, The Judge and the General, co-produced with Patricio Lanfranco, premiered at the 2008 San Francisco Film Festival and aired on POV (PBS) and other networks around the world. As a print reporter and for television, she has covered crises in Iraq, Cambodia, Vietnam, Botswana, Chile, Peru, Haiti, Iraq, Iran, and Israel, among other countries.

Farnsworth grew up in Topeka, Kansas, where her ancestors were pioneers. She graduated magna cum laude from Middlebury College and earned an M.A. in Latin American History from Stanford University. She received an honorary doctorate degree from Washburn University (2021) and Colby College (2002). She has received three national Emmy nominations and the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Award, often considered the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize, which is also administered by Columbia University.

Farnsworth serves on the advisory board of the Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley School of Law, and the advisory committee of the World Affairs Council of Northern California. She lives in Berkeley, California, with her husband, retired attorney Charles E. Farnsworth. They have two children and six grandchildren.

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