Distinguished nature writer Robert Michael Pyle at Severson Dells Sept. 23

From press release

In honor of the memory of Alan Hutchcroft, Severson Dells Nature Center will host a reading and book signing by Robert Michael Pyle at 7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 23.

Pyle completed the First Butterfly Big Year in 2008. Severson Dells Nature Center and southern Illinois were stops along the way in his quest to find as many of the North American butterflies as he could. The outcome was a book he titled Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year. Listen to him tell stories about his discoveries along the way at the Sept. 23 reading.

Pyle founded the Xerces Society for invertebrate conservation. He has published hundreds of papers, essays, stories and poems in many journals. He has written more than 10 books and was past winner of the John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Nature Writing. He is also a contributing author in the Moral Ground book, an event that Four Rivers Environmental Coalition is sponsoring.

For more information, call (815) 335-2915.