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.

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:

July 5, 8:30 AM: Native American poetry: Maurice Kenny

August - no walk

September 6, 10 AM - Forest Bathing by Qing Li

PAST SESSIONS:

2025:

June 7: Devotions by Mary Oliver

May 3: The Universe in Verse by Maria Popova

April 12: The Outermost House by Henry Beston

March 1: Bright Wings: poetry about birds edited by Billy Collins

February 1:The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl

January 11:You Are Here: Poetry of the Natural World edited by Ada Limon

2024:

December 7: The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer

November 9: Birding to Change the World by Trish O’Kane

October 12: Sparrow Envy by J.Drew Lanham

September 14: Forest Bathing by Qing Li

August 17: Poetry of the overlooked from the National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry

July 20: Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden by Camille T. Dungy

May 4: Poetry by Indigenous American Writers: Scott Momoday, Sherman Alexie, Joy Harjo, Maurice Kenney

April 6: Excerpts from Barry Lopez essays

March 30: Robert Frost Nature Poetry

February 24: Nature’s Wild Ideas: How the Natural World is Inspiring Scientific Innovation by Kristy Hamilton

January 27: Devotions, more selections from Mary Oliver’s last anthology

2023:

December: Of Time and Turtles by Sy Montgomery

November: Black Nature edited by Camille Dungy

October: The Heirloom Gardener by John Forti

September: Selected Poetry by Emily Dickinson

August: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

July: Selected Poetry by Wendell Berry

June: An Immense World by Ed Yong

May: Turtle Island by Gary Snyder

April: The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben

March: Bright Wings edited by Billy Collins

February: The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Mongomery

January: Devotions by Mary Oliver

We'll do a little reading out loud of excerpts to discuss on each walk.

If the weather is horrible, we will meet in the Manomet Public Library.

Email me to be put on the group contact list: esnoeyen8@gmail.com

Tidmarsh Wildlife Sanctuary, Plymouth, MA