
Alden Wicker ’09 to Serve as the Fishback Visiting Writer at W&L The author will deliver the Fishback Lecture on Wednesday, Feb. 12, via Zoom.
LOCATION UPDATE (2/12/25): Due to inclement weather, the lecture has been moved online. Join on Zoom at 5 p.m. via this link.
Award-winning journalist and author Alden Wicker ’09 will serve as the Fishback Visiting Writer at Washington and Lee University and deliver the Fishback Lecture at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 12, via Zoom.
A sustainable fashion expert, Wicker’s talk is titled “How Toxic Fashion is Making Us Sick … and What to Do About It.” The free lecture is open to the public and covers the topic profiled in Wicker’s recent book, “To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion is Making Us Sick and How We Can Fight Back.”
“The worlds of fashion and journalism are both changing so fast these days,” said Wicker. “I know I will learn just as much from W&L students during my visit as they will learn from me.”
Wicker is the founder and editor-in-chief of EcoCult. This online publication openly discusses the impact of fashion on the planet and its people. Wicker has also frequently published investigative articles for the New York Times, BBC, Vogue, WIRED and more.
Wicker’s book was featured on NPR’s “Fresh Air” and won the 2024 Society of Environmental Journalists Rachel Carson Book Award and the 2024 Silver Nautilus Book Award for journalism and investigative reporting. She was also presented with the American Society of Journalists and Authors Award for business reporting in 2021.
As a W&L student, Wicker earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration and a Bachelor of Arts in communications. While visiting campus, she will meet with Professor Ady Dewey’s WRIT 100 course on fast fashion and Professor Toni Locy’s JOUR 356 course on investigative reporting. The W&L store will carry copies of Wicker’s book, which she will be available to sign following her lecture.
“Alden was an easy choice for the Fishback Visiting Writers Committee,” said Kevin Finch, associate professor of journalism. “Her powerfully written book has created a buzz in both the environmental community and the fashion industry. She has established her own unique brand, writing for major publications and offering advice on environmentally friendly fashion. Our students will benefit from her expertise in investigative reporting and writing, as well as the value she places on ethics.”
The Fishback Fund for Visiting Writers at W&L was endowed through a gift by William H. Fishback Jr., a Washington and Lee journalism major of the Class of ’56, in memory of his parents, the late Margaret Haggin Haupt Fishback and William Hunter Fishback. The Fishback Fund is administered by W&L’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communications and annually brings an outstanding writer to campus to deliver a public lecture. In selecting the visiting writer, the campus-wide Fishback committee’s first consideration is those who have written with distinction about public affairs, nature and the environment, history and the theater – all special interests of the Fishbacks.
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