5 things we learned from Aimee Nezhukumatathil—Bloomington

On Sept. 22, 2022 we held a sold-out INconversation with Aimee Nezhukumatathil at the Cook Center for Public Arts and Humanities at Indiana University. We’re grateful to Aimee and moderator Ross Gay, 2022 Indiana Authors Awards winner and author of The New York Times bestseller The Book of Delights, for their thoughtful exchange about wonder, love, curiosity, India’s Emerald Coast, ice-cold watermelon and everything in between.

As we like to do at Indiana Humanities, we’ve recapped the conversation below with “5 Things We Learned.” Here are some moments that stood out to us:

1. Bedtime stories. When Nezhukumatathil began writing what would ultimately become the essays of World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments, they were intended as fun nighttime stories for her two young boys during a time in 2016 when day-to-day life was difficult. Turn off the news, let’s talk about narwhals! The more she wrote and shared, the more her sons pushed her to go deeper. And so a book about nature also became a book about race and belonging and the value of holding on to that childlike capacity for wonder, because when you make wonder a practice, you feel less alone in the world.

2. Unsolicited advice. Nezhukumatathil’s advice to fellow writers starts with an unexpected suggestion: floss. (Dental health is connected to heart health, and without a healthy heart, you won’t be around long enough to hone your writing craft!) More conventional recommendations follow: Practice gratitude. Be kind — it costs you nothing. Let yourself be astonished. And most of all, be curious!

3. How to cultivate wonder. To Nezhukumatathil, you must allow yourself to be vulnerable, to admit ignorance. Don’t be an insufferable know-it-all who fails to seek new possibilities, because that would be a tragedy. Instead, always be learning. Regularly remind yourself of how much there is to love in this world. Become a student of this planet.

4. What’s on Aimee’s mind these days? As the garden season continues in her home state of Mississippi, Nezhukumatathil is thinking of okra and the beauty of its flowers, whose impossible sanguine centers make her want to cry. She’s thinking about all the animals whose conservation statuses have changed since World of Wonders was published, including the now-endangered monarch butterfly and how she can encourage her neighbors to stop spraying herbicide and start planting milkweed. She’s also thinking about the book she’s currently writing about the natural history of foods, currently titled Bite by Bite, which includes chapters on cinnamon, apples, mint and watermelon. (We can’t wait!)

5. Be childlike. Children have an enviable sense of wonder which doesn’t have to be taught. They are naturally curious and effortlessly speak in metaphors. In an attempt to express grief over the loss of his mother, a young boy once told Nezhukumatathil something that still brings tears to her eyes: “I keep two clouds in my pocket — one for me and one for my mom.” Truly expressing yourself takes vulnerability, which is something we start to lose as we get older. Hold on to it as long as possible.

Thank you again for joining us in person and via livestream! You can view photos from last night’s event here. We hope to see you again soon.

—The Indiana Humanities Team

P.S. If you enjoyed last night’s conversation and would like to see more events like it, we invite you to support Indiana Humanities in celebration of our 50th anniversary! With your help, we can continue to create more innovative programs that encourage Hoosiers to think, read and talk.

This program was held in partnership with the Cook Center for Public Arts and Humanities at Indiana University. Thanks to Morgenstern’s Books for being our bookseller for the evening.