Janisse Ray Reads Memoire at Heartstone, Sept. 21
On Sept. 21, at 7 p.m., Janisse Ray will read from two of her books: "Ecology of a Cracker Childhood" and "Wildcard Quilt: Taking a Chance on Home" at Heartstone Books in Putney, as part of its "Women and Memoir" series. A reception and booksigning will follow.
A writer, naturalist and activist, Ray has written three books of literary nonfiction. In "Ecology of a Cracker Childhood," a memoir about growing up on a junkyard in the ruined longleaf pine ecosystem of the Southeast, Ray makes a plea to protect and restore the glorious pine flatwoods of the South. At the same time her book looks hard at family, mental illness, poverty and fundamentalist religion.
Author Wendell Berry called the book "well done and deeply moving." Anne Raver of The New York Times said of Janisse Ray, "The forests of the South find their Rachel Carson."
In "Wildcard Quilt: Taking a Chance on Home," Ray returns to Georgia as an adult. She moves into her grandmother's boarded up old home and tries to both find and create community. Part essay and part memoir, this book examines the many threads that make a community alive to its own needs, interests and traditions. Ray's powerful voice, both scientific and poetic, engages the reader's mind and heart.
Her most recent book, "Pinhook: Finding Wholeness in a Fragmented Land," is the story of a 750,000-acre wilderness corridor between south Georgia and north Florida. The book offers a philosophical look at how fragmentation of wild lands is effecting human society.
Ray has published essays and poems in such periodicals as Audubon, Gray's Sporting Journal, Hope, Natural History, Oprah Magazine, Orion, Sierra and The Washington Post. She is anthologized in "Where We Stand: Voices of Southern Dissent," "Elemental South: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water," "The Roadless Yaak," "A Road Runs Through It" and The Norton Anthology of Nature Writing, among others.
She has been visiting professor at Coastal Carolina University, scholar-in-residence at Florida Gulf Coast University, and writer-in-residence at Keene State College and Green Mountain College.
She was the John and Renee Grisham writer-in-residence 2003-04 at the University of Mississippi. She holds a master's from the University of Montana. She lectures widely on topics regarding nature, community, sustainability and the politics of wholeness.
Stephanie Montgomery, the founder of the online women's writing community and workshop, Memoir Café, and Caryl Richardson, owner of Heartstone Books, created the Women in Memoir series in January. All readings are free and open to the public.
Montgomery's interview with Janisse Ray will air on WOOL, 100.1 Black Sheep Radio, three times the week of Sept. 18. Check the WOOL program online for details. The interview will also be available on the Memoir Café Web site.
For more information, contact Stephanie Montgomery at (603) 756-2522 or stephanie@memoircafe.com or Caryl Richardson at (802) 387-2100.
A writer, naturalist and activist, Ray has written three books of literary nonfiction. In "Ecology of a Cracker Childhood," a memoir about growing up on a junkyard in the ruined longleaf pine ecosystem of the Southeast, Ray makes a plea to protect and restore the glorious pine flatwoods of the South. At the same time her book looks hard at family, mental illness, poverty and fundamentalist religion.
Author Wendell Berry called the book "well done and deeply moving." Anne Raver of The New York Times said of Janisse Ray, "The forests of the South find their Rachel Carson."
In "Wildcard Quilt: Taking a Chance on Home," Ray returns to Georgia as an adult. She moves into her grandmother's boarded up old home and tries to both find and create community. Part essay and part memoir, this book examines the many threads that make a community alive to its own needs, interests and traditions. Ray's powerful voice, both scientific and poetic, engages the reader's mind and heart.
Her most recent book, "Pinhook: Finding Wholeness in a Fragmented Land," is the story of a 750,000-acre wilderness corridor between south Georgia and north Florida. The book offers a philosophical look at how fragmentation of wild lands is effecting human society.
Ray has published essays and poems in such periodicals as Audubon, Gray's Sporting Journal, Hope, Natural History, Oprah Magazine, Orion, Sierra and The Washington Post. She is anthologized in "Where We Stand: Voices of Southern Dissent," "Elemental South: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water," "The Roadless Yaak," "A Road Runs Through It" and The Norton Anthology of Nature Writing, among others.
She has been visiting professor at Coastal Carolina University, scholar-in-residence at Florida Gulf Coast University, and writer-in-residence at Keene State College and Green Mountain College.
She was the John and Renee Grisham writer-in-residence 2003-04 at the University of Mississippi. She holds a master's from the University of Montana. She lectures widely on topics regarding nature, community, sustainability and the politics of wholeness.
Stephanie Montgomery, the founder of the online women's writing community and workshop, Memoir Café, and Caryl Richardson, owner of Heartstone Books, created the Women in Memoir series in January. All readings are free and open to the public.
Montgomery's interview with Janisse Ray will air on WOOL, 100.1 Black Sheep Radio, three times the week of Sept. 18. Check the WOOL program online for details. The interview will also be available on the Memoir Café Web site.
For more information, contact Stephanie Montgomery at (603) 756-2522 or stephanie@memoircafe.com or Caryl Richardson at (802) 387-2100.