Authors of "Shale Play" speak at Dr. Ray Lecture

The authors of a new book of photos and poems documenting the impact of the Marcellus Shale gas boom in Pennsylvania speak 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 6 in Room B100 of Cushwa Hall on the campus of Youngstown State University.

The free lecture is part of the Dr. Ray Energy and Environment Speaker Series, named after the late YSU Professor of Biological Sciences Ray Beiersdorfer.

The new book, “Shale Play: Poems and Photographs from the Fracking Fields,” is by acclaimed poet Julia Spicher Kasdorf and award-winning documentary photographer Steven Rubin. The book explores the small towns, farms and forests of Appalachian Pennsylvania and documents the social, emotional and environmental impacts of the shale gas boom in the area.

Kasdorf grew up in Westmoreland, Pa., and is professor of English and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Pennsylvania State University. Rubin is associate professor of Art at Penn State, specializing in photography.