New York Times correspondent and Putin biographer to speak at School of International Affairs

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- New York Times correspondent Steven Lee Myers, author of a widely acclaimed biography of Vladimir Putin, will join the Penn State School of International Affairs and Penn State Law for a talk and book signing at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 7.

The event is free and open to the public. Attendees are asked to register online by Sept. 5.

Myers—a New York Times veteran of 26 years and author of The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin—will discuss Putin’s unexpected appearance on the Russian political scene, his rapid ascent to power, how his background shapes his view of Russia and the world, the potential stability of his popularity and political regime, and his increasingly hostile relationship with the west.

The event will be held in the Sutliff Auditorium, 118 Lewis Katz Building, on Penn State’s University Park campus. The discussion will be moderated by Scott Sigmund Gartner, director of the School of International Affairs, and Myers will take questions from the audience. Following the presentation, Myers will sign copies of his book in the lobby of the Katz Building between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m.

About Steven Lee Myers
Steven Lee Myers is a correspondent in the Washington Bureau of The New York Times who covers foreign policy and national security issues. He previously worked as bureau chief in Moscow in 2013 and 2014, having also served as a correspondent and bureau chief there from 2002 to 2007, covering Russia and the other former Soviet republics.

Myers began his career at The Times in 1989 and worked in New York City until moving to Washington in 1996, where he covered first the State Department and then the Pentagon through the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001.

He has reported on conflicts from the ground in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Iraq, and Kosovo. In 2003, he was “embedded” with the Army’s Third Infantry Division during the invasion of Iraq and reported extensively on the division’s experience there and back home that year. He returned to Iraq as a correspondent and bureau chief from 2009 to 2011.

In Washington, he also covered the White House during the presidency of George W. Bush and has written on the State Department during the tenures now of five different secretaries of State, most recently Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Kerry.

Born in Los Angeles in 1965, Myers received a bachelor’s degree in rhetoric from the University of California at Berkeley, graduating with honors in 1987. As a Rotary International scholar, he received a master’s degree, with distinction, in literature and art history from the University of Reading, Reading, England in 1989.