Mountain Words Festival

Ernest Scheyder is a journalist and author whose work chronicles the people and places at the center of our global energy transitions. His book, "The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives" (One Signal/Simon & Schuster, 2024), was longlisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction, the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, and the Financial Times/Schroders Business Book of the Year. It was also named the American Energy Society’s Energy Book of the Year.

As a detailed work of literary reportage, "The War Below" offers audiences an unprecedented look at the growing tension over where and how we source the lithium, copper, and other building blocks used to build electric vehicles, cell phones, and millions of devices.

At Reuters, Scheyder covers the critical minerals sector. He previously wrote about the U.S. shale revolution – drawing on a two-year stint based in oil-rich North Dakota – as well as natural disasters, mass casualty incidents, and sporting events. He embedded with the Biden presidential campaign in 2020.

A native of Maine, Scheyder is a graduate of the University of Maine, where he was named a distinguished alumnus in 2021, and Columbia Journalism School. He has completed the NYC Marathon ten times in support of the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation and lives in Houston with his family.