Events

Meet the Author: James Gardner "The Lion Killer"

Created by Mary Kate Leming (See other events)
  • Feb 25, 2010 from 14:00 to 15:00
  • Location: Lighthouse Center for the Arts
  • Latest Activity: Sep 23, 2020
Meet the Author - Thursday, February 25 James Gardner “THE LION KILLER” At Lighthouse Center for the Arts Reception – Lecture - African Art Exhibit Ocean Ridge resident, James Gardner will speak and sign copies of his new book “THE LION KILLER” on Thursday, February 25, at the Lighthouse Center for the Arts, located in Gallery Square North, 373 Tequesta Drive in Tequesta. “The Lion Killer” has been the #1 Bestseller in Palm Beach since Feb. 1, as reported by The Palm Beach Daily News. It is the first in his “Dark Continent Chronicles” from Pennington Publishers. A reception in honor of James Gardner begins at 6 p.m. In honor of Black History Month and African culture, traditional African foods and South African wines will be served. From 6:30 to 7 p.m. , Gardner will speak and take questions on the geopolitical conditions facing Africa today with specific emphasis on Zimbabwe and the Darfur in the Sudan . Copies of his book are available for purchase at the event and in the Museum’s gift shop. The event is free to members of the Lighthouse Center for the Arts and $5 for non-members at the door. For reservations, call (561) 746-3101, Ext. 224. ABOUT JAMES GARDNER Seaplane pilot, sailor, scuba diver, fisherman, conservationist and world traveler, James Gardner could easily be the hero of his own book, “The Lion Killer.” Yet Gardner says his lead protagonist, Rigby Croxford, is a compilation of the extraordinary characters he has met on his 25 safaris to Africa over the last 40 years. Gardner lives and writes from his home in Palm Beach County . He took his first trip to Africa in 1968. He landed in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe ) in the midst of the Rhodesian Bush War, which proved to be disconcerting when he confused body bags for golf travel bags at the airport. Flying to Entebbe , Uganda , in 1972 proved even more disturbing when a riot ensued because Idi Amin declared that all Indians must leave the country. Gardner began to write “The Lion Killer” three years ago. He was motivated, in part, to bring attention to what is happening to African countries, like Zimbabwe and the Sudan . Zimbabwe was once called the bread basket of the Dark Continent , and now it is reduced to a desperate state. The unemployment rate is 94%. The annual inflation rate peaked at one billion percent per month until the currency finally collapsed. The AIDS pandemic has dropped the average Zimbabwean woman’s life expectancy from 63 to 37 years in only a decade. Gardner believes the genocide in Darfur is a byproduct of the struggle over the Sudan ’s natural resources. The Khartoum government has condoned the killing of 400,000 Africans and the displacement of two million people from their ancestral lands, thus clearing the way for outside forces to tap its natural resources, such as China ’s ten billion dollar investment in Sudan ’s oil infrastructure.
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