Revenge of the Electric Car

Dan Neil (MA, English '86), a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist who writes an automotive column for the Wall Street Journal, appears prominently in the recent documentary, Revenge of the Electric Car. The film follows four entrepreneurs as they fight to bring the electric car back to the world market during a global recession.

Neil returns to campus on January 30 to show clips from the film and discuss its impact. The program, at 3:00 in the Witherspoon Campus Cinema, is free and open to the public.

In the interview we conducted with Neil a few months ago (see below), he told us he was a singularly unpromising candidate when he arrived at NC State for a master's degree in English. He gives a lot of credit to English Prof. Mike Grimwood, who Neil says spent an inordinate amount of time teaching him the basics of grammar and giving him the tools he needed to be a writer.

Neil went on to write columns about cars for the News and Observer and The L.A. Times –and earning a Pulitzer Prize for his writing — before going on to the Wall Street Journal. Neil also co-hosts The Speed Channel's The Car Show.

Neil’s visit is sponsored by the University’s Scholars Program.

Labels: Alumni, Department of English