History Channel Reality TV Star to Make Guest Appearance at Pitt Dec. 2

PITTSBURGH—The University of Pittsburgh Book Center will host reality television star Alex Debogorski at Pitt to promote his new book, King of the Road: True Tales from a Legendary Ice Road Trucker (Wiley, 2010), at noon Dec. 2 in the William Pitt Union Driveway, 3959 Fifth. Ave., Oakland. The free public event includes a meet and greet with Debogorski, along with a book signing and a chance to see his television show truck. 

Ice Road Truckers, which airs on the History Channel, follows professional truck drivers who have made a living driving across the frozen lakes of Canada’s Northwest Territories that are more commonly referred to as ice roads. The truckers endure temperatures as low as 60 degrees below zero and risk their lives carrying tons of cargo over the ice roads and the Northwest Territories’ twisting landscape. 

This year marks the show’s fourth season; Debogorski has been a cast member since its first airing, in 2007. 

Born in the village of Berwyn in Alberta, Canada, Debogorski was first employed as a professional truck driver in 1972. King of the Road is an autobiographical account of Debogorski’s life growing up in Canada and the events that led him to the reality television show. Debogorski also provides an inside look at life as an ice-road driver that goes beyond the History Channel show. The book features facts about ice roads—including their formation timeline—alongside Debogorski’s stories. 

The Dec. 2 event is part of Debogorski’s nationwide Big Rig Book Tour. For more information about the event or the book, contact Russell Kierzkowski, the Book Center’s general reading department manager, at 412-648-1453 or rkierzkowski@bc.pitt.edu. 

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11/16/10/tmw/lks/jdh