THE WALKING READERS’ GROUP: Walk monthly with up to fifteen fellow nature-lovers to enjoy shared outdoor times while considering a literary text together. Each month we meet in the parking lot of the Tidmarsh Sanctuary, owned by Massachusetts Audubon, to walk and talk about a specific book from which we read excerpts. We read poetry and prose that focus on the natural world.
EMAIL ME BEFORE EACH MEET-UP IF YOU PLAN TO ATTEND SO WE CAN CONTROL OUR GROUP SIZE: Ellen’s email: esnoeyen8@gmail.com
Our Fall/Winter Meetup time will be 10 AM in the Main Parking Lot, 10:15 AM at the Accessible Parking Lot where we will read our first selection.
Feel free to invite others but just let me know when you do so we can keep to a fifteen person limit.
THE AGENDA FOR UPCOMING SESSIONS IS AS FOLLOWS:
May 4, 10 AM: Poems by N. Scott Momaday, Joy Harjo, Sherman Alexie, and Maurice Kenny
Saturday, July 20, 8:30 AM: Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden, Camille Dungy
Saturday, August 17, 8:30 AM: Poetry of Noticing the Overlooked
Saturday, September 14, 8:30 AM: Forest Bathing, by Qing Li, MD
Saturday, October 12, 10 AM: Delighting in Nature, Fun nature poetry written for children
Saturday, November 9, 10 AM: Birding to Change the World: A Memoir by Trish O'Kane
Saturday, December 7, 10 AM: The Poetry of Ornithologist, J.Drew Lanham
PAST SESSIONS:
2023: January 21st: five selected Mary Oliver poems.
February 18th: The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery.
March 18th: selected poems curated by poet, Billy Collins.
April 15th: The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
May 13th: selected poems by Gary Snyder from his book, Turtle Island.
June 10: An Immense World, by Ed Yong
July 15: Selected Poetry by Wendell Berry.
August 12: Braiding Sweetgrass: indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer.
October 1: (a weather-related adjustment): Nature Poetry by Emily Dickinson.
October 28: The Heirloom Gardener: Traditional Plants and Skills for the Modern World by John Forti.
November 18: Four Hundred Years of African American Nature Poetry edited by Camille T. Dungy
December 16: Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell by Sy Montgomery, illustrated by Matt Patterson.
2024: January 27: Devotions, more selections from Mary Oliver’s last anthology
February 24: Nature’s Wild Ideas: How the Natural World is Inspiring Scientific Innovation by Kristy Hamilton
March 30: Robert Frost Nature Poetry
April 6: Excerpts from Barry Lopez essays
We'll do a little reading out loud of excerpts to discuss on each walk.
If the weather is horrible, we will reschedule.
Email me to be put on the group contact list: esnoeyen8@gmail.com