Free Lecture: "Steinbeck, Ricketts, and the Western Flyer"

The Old Monterey Foundation presents a free lecture, “Steinbeck, Ricketts and the Western Flyer: The Intersection of Science and the Arts" on Thursday, June 27 at 6:30pm at Irvine Auditorium on the campus of Middlebury Institute for International Studies.

Admission is free, but space is limited - register here. Talk will be followed by a wine and cheese reception.

About the Lecture

Steinbeck scholar Susan Shillinglaw will discuss the quality of John Steinbeck and Ed Ricketts's friendship and their work in the humanities and sciences.

Sherry Flumerfelt, Executive Director of the Western Flyer Foundation, will share the story of Steinbeck and Ricketts's journey on the boat named the Western Flyer as well as the vessel’s loss, recovery, and future.

About Steinbeck, Ricketts, and the Western Flyer

Writer John Steinbeck and marine biologist Edward F. Ricketts forged a tight creative bond, 1930-48, sharing innovative ideas about animal communities, group behavior, and the survivability of species. Their 1940 collaborative expedition to the Baja intertidal was captured in the book, Sea of Cortez (1941), and in the narrative portion published ten years later, The Log from the Sea of Cortez (1951).

The boat Steinbeck and Ricketts chartered for their 1940 voyage, the Western Flyer, has recently been restored by the nonprofit Western Flyer Foundation as a vessel for marine research and education.

This event is sponsored by The Marcia F. Devoe Fund of the Community Foundation.