The Art of the Angle: An Evening with Author John N. Maclean

April 24, 2025 at the National Sporting Library and Museum

The National Sporting Library and Museum is hosting a cocktail reception and discussion on April 24 with award-winning journalist and author John N. Maclean.

From National Sporting Library and Museum:

John N. is the son of author Norman Maclean who took the fly fishing world by storm in 1976 with his book A River Runs Through It. The discussion will complement the new Library exhibition, The Art of the Angle, a collection of original wood engravings used to illustrate three books on a fly-fishing theme by Norman Maclean, his son John N., and Ernest Hemingway. Maclean will introduce the engravings from A River Runs Through It, Home Waters, and Big Two-hearted River: The Centennial Edition, then discuss their creation and the links among them.

Barry Moser, perhaps the foremost wood engraver in the world, created a special edition for his Pennyroyal Press of A River Runs through It using his original wood engravings. The University of Chicago Press, the book’s original publisher, then produced its own edition using Moser’s artwork, which is part of the exhibition.

When Mariner Classics published John N. Maclean’s memoir, Home Waters, the house engaged Wesley W. Bates to create wood engravings to keep the tradition alive. Then when Maclean contributed a foreword to the Hemingway fishing classic, “Big Two-Hearted River,” for the same publisher, yet another artist, Chris Wormell, made wood engravings for that work.

Seen together, the wood engravings unite as well as enhance landmark texts in the literature of American fly-fishing.

The evening will end with a book sale and signing.

Maclean spent thirty years at the Chicago Tribune, most of that time as a Washington correspondent. After leaving the Tribune, he wrote five nonfiction books about wildland fire that are considered a staple of fire literature as well as training material for firefighters. Maclean, an avid fly fisherman, lives in Washington, D.C., and at a family cabin in Montana.¹

PROGRAM TIMELINE

5–5:45pm | Members-only* Reception. Explore the Library Exhibition Art of the Angle comprised of original illustrations from A River Runs Through It, Home Waters, and Big Two-hearted River: The Centennial Edition by Ernest Hemingway (prologue by John N. Maclean).

5–5:45pm | Non-Members can explore the Museum & Campus

5:45–7pm | Discussion, Q&A, Book Signing

1. I’ve had the pleasure of fishing with John N.; he is not only an accomplished angler, he’s a delightful stream-side companion.