Elizabeth Farnsworth

A launch and reading to celebrate the publication of A Train Through Time: A Life, Real and Imagined.

This beautiful memoir by the former PBS NewsHour correspondent not only recounts her years spent reporting from danger zones such as Cambodia and Iraq, but also a more personal side. The newly motherless Farnsworth, nine years old, tells the story of her cross-country train trip with her father where she searches for her mother at each stop.

Weaving a child’s experiences with memories from her life in journalism, Farnsworth explores how she came to cover mass death and disaster. While she never breaks the tone of a curious investigator, she easily moves between her nine-year-old self and the experienced journalist. Imagination is at play in her childhood adventures and in her narrative control, always with great purpose. She openly confronts the impact of her childhood on the route her life has taken. And, as she provides one beautifully crafted depiction after another, we share her journey, coming to know the acclaimed reporter as she discovers herself. Beautifully imagined, beautifully executed, this memoir will resonate with many readers for years to come.

Elizabeth Farnsworth is a filmmaker, foreign correspondent, and former chief correspondent and principal substitute anchor of the PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Her 2008 documentary, The Judge and the General, co-directed with Patricio Lanfranco, aired on television around the world, winning many awards. She has reported from Cambodia, Vietnam, Chile, Haiti, Iraq, and Iran, among other places. She grew up in Topeka, Kansas, where her ancestors were pioneers. She has a B.A. from Middlebury College and an M.A. in history from Stanford University. She lives in Berkeley  with her husband, attorney Charles Farnsworth.

She has received three Emmy nominations and is a recipient of the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Award, which is often considered the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer, which is also administered by Columbia University.