Writer Willie Drye to speak at Friends of the Library March 5

On Monday, March 5, the Key West Friends of the Library will welcome distinguished author Willie Drye as the next speaker in their lecture series. Lectures are presented at the Key West Theater, 512 Eaton St. Admission is free. His talk will begin promptly at 6:00 p.m. Seating starts at 5:30 on a first-come, first-served basis.

Willie Drye is an author with extensive knowledge of hurricane history and science who notably penned Storm of the Century: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and other works on recent storms in South Florida. He has worked as a journalist for numerous papers and magazines, and as  editor for National Geographic News.

Storm of the Century received much attention from researchers and historians alike. It was the basis for a documentary made by the History Channel, narrated by Drye. In addition, he has written about Florida history in his most recent book, For Sale-American Paradise: How Americans Were Sold An Impossible Dream In Florida, winner of an Independent Publisher Book Award. Key West Magazine also solicited a series of work from Drye in 2006 about hurricane probability in the Keys.

In his second book, Images of America: Plymouth and Washington County, Drye explores the early American history of northeastern North Carolina in images. He also publishes a blog that followed Hurricane Irma’s path in 2017, spanning pop culture beyond storms of notoriety with items of interest in sports. He has reported on this particular topic at length for FoxSportsBiz.com.

Among Drye’s awards are the 1993 and 1995 Scripps Howard reporting award for Stuart News in Stuart, Florida, and the 2007 Charles S. Roberts for Public Service from the Florida Magazine Association. For Sale-American Paradise won the 2016 Silver Medal for Best Nonfiction in the Southeast Region. 

Drye is a native of North Carolina and received his BA in English from UNC. He currently resides in Plymouth, North Carolina.

For more information, go to http://friendsofthekeywestlibrary.org and click on lecture series.

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