The Reynolds School of Journalism, in partnership with Nevada Humanities, is pleased to announce Linda Villarosa as the 2024 Robert Laxalt Distinguished Writer. Villarosa is a journalist, novelist and educator and contributing writer for “The New York Times Magazine,” where she covers race, inequality and public health. Villarosa will be recognized as this year’s Laxalt Distinguished Writer and present her talk “" on Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. in the Wells Fargo Auditorium.
Villarosa’s award-winning work has examined HIV/AIDS, maternal health and infant mortality, environmental justice, COVID-19 racial health disparities and life expectancy. A former executive editor of Essence Magazine, she is the author of the book “Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation.” It was honored as one of the top 10 books of 2022 by The New York Times Book Review and was a finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize.
Villarosa’s contribution to The New York Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning “1619 Project” highlights race-based physiological myths that have endured in medical practice since slavery, and an expanded version of her essay was included in the book “The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story.”
A graduate of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, where she is now a professor, Villarosa also teaches journalism, English and Black studies at the City College of New York.
Laxalt Distinguished Writer Program events are sponsored by the Reynolds School of Journalism and Nevada Humanities with generous support from community contributors.
The Robert Laxalt Distinguished Writer Program was established posthumously in 2001 to inspire new generations of writers in honor of Laxalt, who developed from news reporter to fiction and nonfiction author during his prolific career. Considered by many to be Nevada’s finest writer, Laxalt founded the University of Nevada Press and wrote 17 books, four of which were entered for the Pulitzer Prize. He also wrote for National Geographic and served as a professor in the Reynolds School for 18 years, teaching magazine writing and literary journalism.
This event is free and open to the public. After the talk and audience Q&A, copies of Villarosa's book "Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of our Nation" will be available for purchase and to be signed by Villarosa. To register, visit .
