Kiev-based war correspondent, Sarasota native to speak at SILL's 'Global Issues' forum

Sarasota Herald-Tribune
·2 min read
Sarasota native Nolan Peterson was the first U.S. journalist embedded with the Ukraine army after the invasion by Russia in February 2022. He will be in Sarasota on March 29 as part of the Sarasota Institute of Lifetime Learning’s “Global Issues” series at First United Methodist Church, 104 S. Pineapple Ave.
Sarasota native Nolan Peterson was the first U.S. journalist embedded with the Ukraine army after the invasion by Russia in February 2022. He will be in Sarasota on March 29 as part of the Sarasota Institute of Lifetime Learning’s “Global Issues” series at First United Methodist Church, 104 S. Pineapple Ave.

Nolan Peterson, a Sarasota native, was the first U.S. journalist to be embedded with the Ukraine army after the invasion by Russia in February 2022. A former U.S. Air Force special operations pilot and a veteran of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Peterson is a conflict journalist whose adventures have taken him to all seven continents.

A 2020 Pine View School graduate, Peterson will be in Sarasota on March 29 as part of the Sarasota Institute of Lifetime Learning’s “Global Issues” series at First United Methodist Church, 104 S. Pineapple Ave.

“From the day Putin’s missiles rained down on Ukraine, Nolan has interviewed soldiers at the front, people in the shelters, survivors in the war’s wreckage, and experienced his own family’s daily struggles," SILL president Bob Deutsch said. "This is a rare opportunity to feel, see, and understand this battle for freedom.”

Nolan Peterson, left, on assignment in Ukraine. He will be in Sarasota on March 29 as part of the Sarasota Institute of Lifetime Learning’s “Global Issues” series at First United Methodist Church, 104 S. Pineapple Ave.
Nolan Peterson, left, on assignment in Ukraine. He will be in Sarasota on March 29 as part of the Sarasota Institute of Lifetime Learning’s “Global Issues” series at First United Methodist Church, 104 S. Pineapple Ave.

Peterson, who graduated from Pine View School in 2000 and the U.S. Air Force Academy, has been reporting from Kiev in Ukraine for eight years. He is the author of “Why Soldiers Miss War” as well as several fiction collections. Tickets to hear his story are $10 and available at SillSarasota.org or 941-365-6404.

“Having been to war as a combatant, you lose any romantic idea of what war is. You don't look at it as an adventure, you look at it more as a tragedy,” Peterson told the Pine View Torch in 2022. “I'd say that most people who have been to war, whether as a pilot or soldier or sailor, end up becoming the most antiwar people in their lives, because they see firsthand the tragedy in the horror of war.”

Peterson has reported from the front lines in eastern Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He’s also reported from the flight deck of a U.S. aircraft carrier off the coast of Syria; embedded within a migrant caravan crossing Mexico; and retraced the path of Tibetan refugees on a solo hike across the Himalayas from Nepal to China. His work has been published by CNN, Fox News, the BBC, Newsweek, the Heritage Foundation, Coffee or Die Magazine, and other news outlets.

Nolan Peterson, who graduated from Pine View School and the U.S. Air Force Academy, is the author of “Why Soldiers Miss War.”
Nolan Peterson, who graduated from Pine View School and the U.S. Air Force Academy, is the author of “Why Soldiers Miss War.”

Peterson graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a minor in French. He attended graduate school at the Sorbonne in Paris and completed a master’s degree in journalism at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where he was a McCormick Foundation fellow.

Peterson also ran a marathon across a glacier in Antarctica, swam across the Hellespont from Europe to Asia, climbed mountains in the Himalayas, and completed Ironman triathlons. He lives in Kiev with his wife Lilya.

The Sarasota Institute of Lifetime Learning is a nonprofit organization that offers an expert lecture series to provide discussion of contemporary global issues. Visit SillSarasota.org.

Submitted by Su Byron

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota Institute of Lifetime Learning hosts Kiev-based war journalist