LEWISTON — Mary Jo McConahay, a journalist who began covering Guatemala and Central America as a correspondent in the 1980s, will discuss her book, “Maya Roads: One Woman’s Journey Among The People Of The Rainforest,” at Bates College on Thursday, Oct. 20.

The writer, whose work has appeared in more than 30 magazines and periodicals, including Rolling Stone, Time, Vogue and the San Francisco Chronicle, will read from and discuss her book from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Muskie Archives Building, Room 201.

Mayor Larry Gilbert, a 1963 classmate of McConahay at Bishop Amat High School in La Puente, Calif., learned that she is scheduled to discuss “Maya Roads’ on Oct. 26 at Harvard in Cambridge, Mass. He invited McConahay, who lives in San Francisco, to give readings in Maine.

“Maya Roads” draws on McConahay’s experiences over three decades in Central America’s remote and dangerous landscapes, where she traveled, lived and worked as a war correspondent.

She chronicles her relationships with the land, politics, archaeology and species of the rainforest, the cradle of Maya civilization. She shares tales of villagers and war survivors living in the jungle, as well as her own personal story of discovery.

“As she sleeps on mosquito-net-covered hammocks, hikes through the steamy jungle and views the autumnal equinox during a rainstorm, she also recognizes the effects of increased drug trafficking and the horrific violence brought about by revolution and uprisings,” wrote her publisher, Chicago Review Press.

McConahay will also discuss “Maya Roads” at Bowdoin College in Brunswick on Wednesday, Oct. 19. This session will be from 7 to 9 p.m. at Searles Science Building, Room 315.