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INconversation with Aimee Nezhukumatathil (Bloomington)
Hosted by Indiana HumanitiesJoin us Thursday, September 22, for a conversation with award-winning poets Aimee Nezhukumatathil and Ross Gay at the Cook Center for Public Arts & Humanities at Indiana University.
Event Details
Join us Thursday, September 22, for a conversation with award-winning poets Aimee Nezhukumatathil and Ross Gay at the Cook Center for Public Arts & Humanities at Indiana University.
About this event
In World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, & Other Astonishments, poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil reflects on the natural world and all its wonders in this collection of 28 short essays. Each essay reflects on a different plant, animal, or experience Nezhukumatathil has had with the natural world, such as the ambiguous smile of the axolotl, the repulsive scent of the corpse flower, the stunning blue of a peacock, and the flickering of fireflies. Nezhukumatathil connects these encounters to her own experiences as a writer, mother, and woman of color living in America today. Beautifully illustrated by Fumi Mini Nakamura, Nezhukumatathil’s writing is full of the wondrous, encouraging readers to think through the connections they’ve discovered with the natural world, and what ones might yet be unearthed.
Offered as part of Indiana Humanities’ Unearthed programming, a multiyear initiative encouraging Hoosiers to discover and discuss their relationships with the natural world, this special INconversation with Aimee Nezhukumatathil will feature a moderated conversation with Indiana’s own Ross Gay, author of New York Times bestseller The Book of Delights. Together, Nezhukumatathil and Gay wrote Lace & Pyrite, a chapbook of poems written to each other from their gardens. The evening will wrap up with an audience Q&A followed by book sales and signing. This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required. ASL interpretation will be provided.
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SCHEDULE (All times Eastern.)
6:30 p.m. Doors open
7:00-8:15 p.m. INconversation with Aimee Nezhukumatathil moderated by Ross Gay
This program will also be available to view via livestream. Follow @INhumanities on social media to be notified when the livestream begins.
8:15-9:00 p.m. Book sales and signing
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About Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of the New York Times best-selling illustrated collection of nature essays and Kirkus Prize finalist, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, & Other Astonishments (2020, Milkweed Editions), which was chosen as Barnes and Noble’s Book of the Year. She has four previous poetry collections: Oceanic (Copper Canyon Press, 2018), Lucky Fish (2011), At the Drive-in Volcano (2007), and Miracle Fruit (2003), the last three from Tupelo Press. Her most recent chapbook is Lace & Pyrite, a collaboration of epistolary garden poems with the poet Ross Gay. Her writing appears twice in the Best American Poetry Series, The New York Times Magazine, ESPN, Ploughshares, American Poetry Review, and Tin House.
Honors include a poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pushcart Prize, a Mississippi Arts Council grant, and being named a Guggenheim Fellow in poetry. In 2021, she became the first-ever poetry editor for SIERRA magazine, the storytelling arm of The Sierra Club. She is professor of English and Creative Writing in the University of Mississippi’s MFA program.
About Ross Gay
Ross Gay is the author of four books of poetry: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; Be Holding, winner of the PEN American Literary Jean Stein Award; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. His first collection of essays, The Book of Delights, was released in 2019 and was a New York Times bestseller. His new collection of essays, Inciting Joy, will be released by Algonquin in October of 2022.
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About INconversation
INconversation engages an intimate group in interesting and insightful conversations with some of the nation’s most intriguing thought leaders. This highly participatory question-and-answer style discussion involves the thought leader, a moderator and the audience. INconversation is a signature program of Indiana Humanities.
About One State / One Story: World of Wonders
Indiana Humanities’ One State / One Story: World of Wonders invites Hoosiers to engage deeply with Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments as part of a statewide conversation tied to Indiana Humanities’ Unearthed initiative, which explores Hoosiers’ relationships with the natural world. The heart of One State / One Story: World of Wonders is communities coming together to talk about Nezhukumatathil’s remarkable collection of essays. In total, 30 organizations are taking part in community reads of the collection, with more than 90 programs happening across the state.
About Indiana Humanities
Indiana Humanities connects people, opens minds and enriches lives by creating and facilitating programs that encourage Hoosiers to think, read and talk. www.IndianaHumanities.org
About the Gayle Karch Cook Center at Indiana University’s Maxwell Hall
A multidisciplinary hub for research and creative activity at IU Bloomington, the Gayle Karch Cook Center for Public Arts and Humanities is a welcoming campus space for art exhibitions, performances, conferences, community engagement, and so much more. The Cook Center seeks to make transformative experiences in the arts and humanities accessible to all people on campus, in the city of Bloomington, and throughout Indiana.
ASL interpretation services will be available. If you need further accommodations, or have questions about accessibility, please contact Megan Telligman, director of programs, at mtelligman@indianahumanities.org.
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