BOZEMAN – Author and attorney Michael Punke, whose literary works include “The Revenant” and “Fire and Brimstone,” will speak at Montana State University’s First Year Student Convocation on Tuesday, Aug. 19. The event will be held in the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse at 4 p.m. and is open to the public. Tickets are not required.
Punke is an acclaimed writer whose first novel, “The Revenant,” was a No. 1 New York Times bestseller. The novel was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film starring Leonardo DiCaprio in 2015.
Born in Torrington, Wyoming, Punke earned his bachelor’s degree from George Washington University and a law degree from Cornell. He has worked in the public policy domain for more than 30 years, including serving as the U.S. ambassador to the World Trade Organization in Switzerland from 2010 to 2017. He has held staff positions in the U.S. Senate, on the White House National Security Council and the National Economic Council. Punke currently works as the vice president for global public policy at Amazon Web Services. He lives in Missoula with his wife Traci, a Livingston native. They have two adult children.
MSU’s first-year students were asked to read Punke’s nonfiction “Fire and Brimstone: The North Butte Mining Disaster of 1917” in advance of the Aug. 19 event and were provided a copy as a gift from the MSU president’s office.
“‘Fire and Brimstone’ illuminates an essential chapter of Montana history and brings it to life for a new class of MSU students,” said MSU President Brock Tessman. “Michael Punke is a gifted storyteller, and we can’t wait for him to join us in kicking off a new academic year by sharing his creativity and expertise.”
MSU’s First Year Convocation is the formal welcome of the incoming class, focused on the start of the academic, intellectual and personal journeys of first-year students. Convocation demonstrates the support of the university and community to help students reach the goal of becoming the graduating class of 2029. Punke’s presentation will be part of MSU’s 18th convocation. More information is available at montana.edu/convocation/.