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Kathy Sullivan & Michael Rosen Author Visit

How to Dive to the Deepest Place on Earth Book Release Event

Former astronaut, diver, explorer, and author Kathryn D. Sullivan and co-author and illustrator Michael J. Rosen celebrate the release of their latest book, How to Dive to the Deepest Place on Earth.

Join former astronaut and diver Kathryn Sullivan, the most vertical person in the world, and co-author and illustrator Michael Rosen to discover what it's like to visit the deepest place in the ocean. In 1984, Sullivan became the first American woman to walk in space, and in 2020, she became the first woman to reach the Challenger Deep, the deepest point on Earth. Sullivan will take us on her journey aboard the Limiting Factor submersible down to the ocean floor and discuss how it became the book, How to Dive to the Deepest Place on Earth, with her co-author and illustrator Michael Rosen.

Publishers Weekly calls the book "fueled by imagination" and School Library Journal writes, "this book is perfect for those interested in ­science, exploration, and the extreme ­frontiers of our world."

About the Authors:

Kathryn D. Sullivan is a former astronaut, scientist, explorer, and author. Dr. Kathryn Sullivan joined NASA as part of the barrier-breaking astronaut class of 1978. As one of the first six women chosen for the “Thirty-Five New Guys,” Sullivan became the first American woman to perform a spacewalk high above Earth. She continued to break boundaries after NASA as the first woman to dive to lowest point on Earth, to Challenger Deep inside the Mariana Trench. She is also the author of several books including, Handprints on Hubble: An Astronaut's Story of Invention (2020, MIT Press), How to Spacewalk with Michael J. Rosen (2024, MIT Kids Press), and How to Dive to the Deepest Place on Earth, also with Michael J. Rosen (2026, MIT Kids Press).

Columbus native, Michael J. Rosen is a creator of art in many forms. Best known as the author a wide variety of more than 150 books for both adults and young readers—poet, editor, writer of fiction and non-fiction, humorist,, playwright, and longtime champion and editor of James Thurber's works—he has worked in the field of art, design, and illustration even since first publishing drawings in The New Yorker and Gourmet while he was in graduate school. How to Dive to the Deepest Place on Earth is Michael's second collaboration with Kathryn Sullivan, the first being How to Spacewalk, published in 2024 through MIT Kids Press.

About the Book:

Journey seven miles below the surface of the ocean in this thrilling moment-by-moment recounting of astronaut and oceanographer Kathryn Sullivan’s real-life deep dive to the “bottom of the world.” This book is brimming with STEM concepts and heart.

What is it like to visit the deepest place in the ocean? In childhood, Kathryn Sullivan was drawn to the blank spaces on the map. She boosted her passion for exploration with curiosity, hard work, and science education. Finally, she had the opportunity to study the depths of the Marianas Trench, a trip that would require a lot of study and precise preparations. Get the inside scoop on everything deep dive, from how submersibles are engineered to the nitty-gritty of planning an ocean-floor expedition. Travel with Sullivan in the submersible Limiting Factor into bright waters where dolphins and turtles glide; down to the murky twilight zone, home of lantern fish and deep-sea squid; down, down, to the opaque darkness that no sunlight penetrates . . . with three hours of descent still to go. Through science-rich text, colorful illustrations, and striking photographs, Kathryn Sullivan and author-illustrator Michael J. Rosen take young explorers on an astonishing journey to one of the most mysterious places on Earth.

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