SALISBURY — The Center for the Environment at Catawba College will host Corban Addison, author of “Wastelands,” and John Hart, a Salisbury writer, for a panel discussion Friday, Sept. 16, starting at 6 p.m. with a reception.

Corban will offer remarks and the panel discussion will follow, along with a book signing.

The event is at the Tom Smith Auditorium in Ketner Hall.

Maggie Dees, a Rachel Carson Council Stanback Presidential Fellow, wrote, ” ‘Wastelands’ does not shy away from the corrupt nature of the near-monopoly Smithfield (now owned by the massive Chinese company, WH Group), has on pork and the harm it perpetuates for every citizen in hog country. The book breaks down the history of Smithfield and the men who started it. But Addison also digs deeply into the contaminated soil of systemic and well-funded legislative advantage that Smithfield and the hog farmers have enjoyed in the halls of the state capital in Raleigh.”

Wastelands is available for purchase at the Catawba College Bookstore on campus or at South Main Book Company, which will be at the reception selling books.

Addison is author of four novels, “A Walk Across the Sun,” “The Garden of Burning Sand,” “The Tears of Dark Water” (winner of the inaugural Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize) and “A Harvest of Thorns,” all of which address human rights issues. “Wastelands” is his first work of nonfiction. An attorney, activist and world traveler, he lives with his wife and children in Virginia.

Hart is the author of six New York Times bestsellers, most recently “The Hush.” The only author to ever win the Edgar Award for Best Novel consecutively, Hart has also won the Barry Award, the SIBA Award for Fiction, the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award and the North Carolina Award for Literature. His novels have been translated into 30 languages and can be found in more than 70 countries.

RSVP by Sept. 12 at 704-637-4394 or rsvp@catawba.edu.