E.O. Wilson to receive Thoreau Prize

PEN New England will present this year’s Henry David Thoreau Prize for Literary Excellence in Nature Writing on Feb. 8 to author Edward O. Wilson in recognition of his exceptional talents. Wilson is Pellegrino University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University.

Regarded as one of the world’s pre-eminent biologists and naturalists, Wilson grew up in south Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, where he spent his boyhood exploring the region’s forests and swamps, collecting snakes, butterflies, and ants — the latter to become his lifelong specialty. He is the author of more than 20 books, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Ants” and “On Human Nature.”

The event is free and open to the public and will take place at 7 p.m. inside the Geological Lecture Hall at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.