Three-Time Pulitzer Prize Finalist Tony Bartelme Discusses His Latest Book, A Surgeon in the Village.

Join us Friday, March 24 at noon for Blue Bicycle Books Charleston Author Series luncheon at High Cotton, with three-time Pulitzer Prize Finalist Tony Bartelme discussing his latest book, “A Surgeon in the Village: An American Doctor Teaches Brain Surgery in Africa.”

A journalist and author, Bartelme is the senior projects reporter for The Post and Courier and spent four years researching and writing this book, including multiple trips to Tanzania.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR TICKETS NOW!
• Luncheon Only: $31 for the three-course luncheon and discussion
• Luncheon Plus Signed Book: $58 includes the luncheon and a signed, copy of A Surgeon in the Village.
• Luncheon-For-Two Plus One Signed Book: $89 includes the luncheon for two plus one, signed, hardcover copy of A Surgeon in the Village.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
By 2006, Dilan Ellegala, an accomplished neurosurgeon, had reached the highest rungs of the American medical establishment. But he was on the verge of burning out. In search of personal restoration, he took a sabbatical at a remote missionary hospital in Haydom, Tanzania. While there, he discovered a medical world entirely different from the one he knew: Tanzania had just three neurosurgeons in a country with a population of 43 million.

During his stay, he met Emmanuel Mayegga, an assistant medical officer. Though Mayegga had no medical degree, Ellegala realized that Mayegga had the dexterity, intelligence, and confidence to be a great surgeon.

Dr. Ellegala began training Mayegga to perform brain-surgery procedures, giving him the tools to become an agent of change in his own country. In his turn, Mayegga trained another young health-care worker, Emanuel Nuwas, to save lives with neurosurgical procedures. Nuwas himself would go on to train Hayte Samo.

Since that first trip, Dr. Ellegala has solidified his train-forward philosophy into the NGO Madaktari, (Swahili for doctors), a group that sends hundreds of doctors around the world to serve as mentors and to create a sustainable new model for global health. Dilan’s story exposes a major and largely neglected global-health issue: the shortage of surgeons. As many as 17 million people die every year because of this gap, more than die from AIDS, malaria, and TB combined.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Tony Bartelme is a three-time Pulitzer Prize Finalist. In 2011, Bartelme was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his series about a neurosurgeon’s work to teach brain surgery in Tanzania, now the book. In 2013, his series about high insurance rates was a finalist in explanatory writing and also winner of the Sigma Delta Chi award for non-deadline reporting.

In 2016, Bartelme was a member of a reporting team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the breaking news reporting category for stories about the fatal shooting of Walter Scott.

Bartelme began his journalism career at The Greenville (South Carolina) News-Piedmont after earning a bachelor of science degree in 1984 from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. He has been with The Post and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina, since 1990. Bartelme has won more than 50 South Carolina Press Association Awards, including Journalist of the Year.

Bartelme has written or co-written three other books: “Second Chance: The Mark Sanford Story; The Bridge Builders and Charleston’s Grand New Span, with Jessica VanEgeren; and Into the Wind: The story of the world’s longest race, with Brian Hicks.
Doors open at 11:30 AM and lunch is served promptly at noon. Limited seating provides an intimate experience with the author. There is a cash bar for your enjoyment. Click Here for Ticket Information.

High Cotton is located at 199 East Bay Street, where the luncheon and discussion will take place. Parking is available at the Cumberland Street Garage, other municipal lots or at meters on the street.