Some nice community events from Emergence Magazine, including a few book clubs over the course of the next few months!
We are hosting a variety of new online programs with Emergence staff and contributors, aimed at providing a space where we can connect through the power of story and reflect on the deeper themes emerging at this time. Free of charge, online sessions include: a monthly book club featuring works by contributors; Contributor Conversations with Emergence writers and filmmakers; a bi-weekly Nature Writing Course; and a four-part facilitated workshop on the theme of vulnerability.
Braiding Sweetgrass has been on my list for a while and it’s the first book club they’re doing, starting in April. Read more here and register here (taking place via Zoom).
Also two more coming up:
- May: Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert Macfarlane (one of my recent favorites)
- June: The Songs of Trees by David Haskell
Seems great and for the final session (April 30) they’ll have a live Q&A with the author Robin Wall Kimmerer, hosted by Robert Macfarlane.
More info:
Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. In a rich braid of reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.
In these difficult times, we are working to support not only our wider community online but our local community as well. If you plan to purchase a copy of the book, consider ordering from our beloved local bookstore and partner, Point Reyes Books. Like all independent bookstores, now more than ever, they need our support. They have had to close their doors to the public indefinitely due to this pandemic, but are processing online orders and offering shipping for just $0.99. For Emergence Online Book Club members, they are offering a 10% discount (use code: EMERGENCE at checkout): https://www.ptreyesbooks.com/book/9781571313560