 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||||
credit: Steve Raymer
|
A Conservationist Manifesto was published on Earth Day, April 22, by Indiana University Press. The book addresses what I take to be the greatest challenge facing our society, which is to shift from a culture based on consumption to a culture based on caretaking. What would a truly sustainable economy look like? What responsibilities do we bear for the well-being of future generations? What responsibilities do we bear toward Earth’s millions of other species? In a time of ecological calamity and widespread human suffering, how should we imagine a good life? A Conservationist Manifesto seeks answers to these pressing questions, and more, in writing that’s impelled by a sense of place and a sense of hope.
Also on Earth Day, an interview focusing on the book was posted on Grist.org, a website devoted to understanding our current predicament and envisioning the path toward a humane and durable way of life. You will find another recent interview here, and reviews of Conservationist here.
*
This summer I will be teaching two writing workshops that are now accepting applications: the Split Rock Arts Program in Minnesota, June 28-July 4 and the Wrangell Mountains Workshop in Alaska, August 12-18.
*
I have returned to the writing of fiction in the past year. The first fruits of this effort are "Heart Wood," which appeared in the fall 2008 North American Review; "Four Winds," which appears in the winter 2009 Michigan Quarterly Review; "Mountain Weather," which appears in the spring 2009 Kenyon Review; and "River Blessing," which will appear in a future issue of Seattle Review.
*
The Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature recently presented me with the 2009 Mark Twain Award for "distinguished contributions to Midwestern literature." Previous winners include Toni Morrison, Ray Bradbury, Jim Harrison, William Maxwell, Wright Morris, Harriet Monroe, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Jonis Agee. A brief interview about the award appears here.
*
On the evening of 4 May 2008, I delivered a speech in my hometown of Bloomington, Indiana, entitled "A Citizen's View on the State of the Union." A number of people who heard me speak asked if I would post my remarks so that they could share them with friends.
I have posted recent interviews from Terrain, The Writer's Chronicle, and River Teeth.
A Private History of Awe, published
in a cloth edition by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 2006, is now available
in a paperback edition. To read my short description of this book, click
here.
Three of my earlier books have been brought out in revised editions
by The Wooster Book Company—Wilderness Plots,
a collection of brief tales about the settlement of the Ohio Valley;
Warm as Wool, a storybook for children about
a pioneer family; and Aurora Means Dawn, another
children's storybook, this one about a family from Connecticut that
homesteads in the Ohio wilderness in 1800. Ask for any of these books
at your local bookstore or contact The Wooster Book Company online at
www.woosterbook.com or by
phone at 800-982-6651. You will find brief descriptions of Wilderness
Plots, Warm as Wool, and Aurora Means Dawn here.
*
For information about the Wilderness Plots Show, inspired by my book of short stories with the same title, go here. WTIU television in Bloomington, Indiana, released an hour-long documentary about the making of the "Wilderness Plots Show." PBS has distributed the program for national viewing in 2009. Check with your local PBS affiliate for times and dates.
