This excerpt was originally found on Brenda Peterson’s Website. Excerpted from the book “Wolf Haven: Sanctuary and the Future of Wolves in North America,” essays by Brenda Peterson, all photographs by Annie Marie Musselman. (Sasquatch Books) THEIR EYES FIND you first, often golden or dark-green and amber-flecked with a fierce and...
BEI Fellow DJ Lee was recently the subject of an article by Washington State University. By Nella Letizia, WSU Libraries Many of DJ Lee’s stories in Remote: Finding Home in the Bitterroots embody the powerful force of the Selway River that carves out a portion of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in Idaho and...
This op-ed piece was originally found in the Chicago Tribune. “Do we detect the reason why we also did not die on the approach of spring?” — “The Journal of Henry David Thoreau,” April 6, 1856 This morning, as the spring rain taps on our backyard window, I’m thinking of...
This poem by Tammy Melody Gomez was originally posted on Knopf Poetry. In the anthology Together in a Sudden Strangeness: America’s Poets Respond to the Pandemic, editor Alice Quinn offers us a sample of our nation’s verse in a transformative moment. This piece, by the Texan poet Tammy Melody Gomez, reminds...
The following event was originally featured in the ArtsBoston. Part of BroadBand’s Latitudes virtual performance series, “Regie Gibson: Letter and Spirit: Here, Among the Americans…”, premieres Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 7:30pm EDT, followed by live talk-back event online. Streams March 25-28, 2021. Poet, songwriter, author and educator Regie Gibson’s...
This excerpt from The Radiant Lives of Animals was originally published on YesMagazine.org. An Indigenous writer describes how ritual is the entryway to connection and wholeness. In The Radiant Lives of Animals, celebrated Chickasaw writer Linda Hogan draws on ancient stories and traditions to consider the connection among human consciousness, the natural...
This poem was originally published in MomEggReview. Ann Fisher-Wirth Lebkuchen There is more and more I tell no one Jane Hirshfield Once a week, my mother brought me home to make Lebkuchen, my passion all that fall because it would ripen while I was gone and because it saved talking. I...
This article was originally published in usask.ca. Louise Halfe is a BEI Emeritus Fellow. Elder and USask Indigenous advisor receives appointment as Parliamentary Poet Laureate Elder Louise Bernice Halfe – Sky Dancer, a highly-renowned University of Saskatchewan (USask) advisor, mentor, writer and honorary degree recipient, has been appointed as Canada’s...
This news was originally published on InsideUCR. UCR author Allison Hedge Coke has been inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters, or TIL. Founded in 1936 to celebrate Texas literature and recognize distinctive literary achievement, this is the 85th year members of the TIL have inducted new members to join the...
Information for this event was originally published by the Saskatchewan Writer’s Guild. Come watch the live event featuring Emeritus Fellow Louise Halfe! Let’s Chat – with Maria Campbell & Louise Bernice Halfe START: JANUARY 28, 2021 – 7:00 PM TO: 9:00 PM Please join Carol GoldenEagle as she chats with Maria Campbell...
This post was originally featured on PennStateNews. ALTOONA, Pa. — Todd Davis, professor of environmental studies and English at Penn State Altoona, has released the 15th installment of his “Notes from the Allegheny Front” audio blog. The latest installment is titled “People who Change Our Lives.” Listen to the latest...
This story was originally reported on by Iowa State University.com. Throughout her vibrant career, Debra Marquart, Distinguished Professor, professor of English and Iowa’s Poet Laureate, continues to create engaging prose. Her passion for both teaching and writing has garnered new support from the Roger S. Hanson Faculty Support Fund in...
This article by Liam Heneghan was originally published in aeon. It is our sad lot that we love perishable things: our friends, our parents, our mentors, our partners, our pets. Those of us who incline to nature draw this consolation: most lovely natural things – the forests, the lakes, the...
Author Brenda Peterson showcases the power of music, and how it might heal our broken souls. The piece was originally published on Peterson’s website. We sing because hearing is the first and last human sense; we sing to blend our voices and find harmony in a world so often dissonant;...
This article was originally posted in Penn State News. ALTOONA, Pa. — Todd Davis, professor of English and environmental studies at Penn State Altoona, has been nominated by two different literary magazines for the Pushcart Prize this year. The journal “Chautauqua” nominated Davis’ poem, “A Map,” and the journal “Natural...
Metta Sama’s poem, You Can’t Say Anything Anymore was recently featured in KorePress.org‘s Postcards to the Future Collection. Sama creates a powerful poem solely using common problematic remarks. #WhyWeCan’tHaveNiceThings I am terribly aggrieved about Atticus Finch being outed as a racist. I’d rather remember the good he did. Team...
The following poem by Drea Brown has been nominated by About Place Journal for the 2020 Pushcart Prize. at times it seems black life matters in death, and we die hard. this ain’t no lie. sometimes we see it coming, sometimes we go to sleep and never wake. then...
The following prose by Lisa Allen- Agostini has been nominated by About Place Journal for the 2020 Pushcart Prize. Cam couldn’t stop thinking of the girl’s perfect mouth. Perfect brown lips. When she laughed: the tender, moist, pink interior. Her straight, wide teeth like Altoids or really big Fresh’Ms....
The following poem by Marjory Wentworth has been nominated by About Place Journal for the 2020 Pushcart Prize. Whether it is morning And sunlight is seeping through Overlapping oak branches Bursting with bright leaves Or late in the day, after Rain has fallen and the scent Of spring...
The following poem by Sydney Epps has received a nomination for the 2020 Pushcart Prize. Is it a sin in this skin? No; it is a blessing See, the best teacher I had was this wrap Gifting a knowledge more potent than college A test that got y’all...
The following short by Vikram Ramakrishnan has received a nomination for the 2020 Pushcart Prize. One time Appa said the planet broke in half, and I looked down at the jagged line in the dirt he was pointing at and agreed, yeah, that’s a crack, but you think that...
The following poem by Margaret Noodin has received a nomination for the 2020 Pushcart Prize. Gimeme’igonaan omaa This place is our lullaby biidaabang ani bangishimong sunrise to sunset gimiwang ani gakijiwang. rainfall to waterfall. Gidayaangwaamimigonaan This place is our warning zegaanakwak ziibiskendamang storm clouds and sorrow manidoog manidoonsikaazowaad. spirits...
Lauren Camp was recently mentioned in an article published by Frontier Poetry. Lauren takes readers through her process of creating her most recent collection, Took House. What were the most joyful moments of Took House’s journey to publication? I began the poems that became Took House in 2005. My decisions about what would be...
Ann Fisher-Wirth’s poem “Corona Journal, Day 32,” was chosen by Terrain.com for their Letters to America Collection on the 2020 Election Day. Corona Journal, Day 32 A young stag at dusk, white tail flicking, eating flowers heaped on a raw grave, raises his head to watch us before he vanishes...
Author Brenda Peterson offers her insight into the Trump Presidency, as well as the continuing wage divide between classes. Read her thought-provoking essay now! The Pathology of Privilege: Trump as Once or Future King Poor whites are not privileged–a note on the arrogance of many the rich By Brenda Peterson ...
Lauren Camp was recently mentioned in an article published by RDR News. Christina Stock makes her recommendations on the best way to spend an evening; A comforting meal with a comforting book. By Christina Stock In these past months, since the pandemic hit the state and forced us to...
Read this review of Scott Russell Sanders’s “At the Gates of Deep Darkness” by Tom Montgomery Fate. Originally published by The Christian Century. The artist at the end of the world Scott Russell Sanders’s essays balance ecological despair with the promise of human creativity. by Tom Montgomery Fate September 24, 2020 In...
Todd Davis was recently the subject of a Penn State News article surrounding his recent spoken word poem. Altoona professor’s blog features ‘A Promise of New Life in the Coming Year’ ALTOONA, Pa. — Todd Davis, professor of environmental studies and English at Penn State Altoona, has released the 14th...
Read this review of Lauren Camp’s “Took House” by Jennifer Levin. Originally published by Santa Fe New Mexican. Took House by Lauren Camp A few lines of poetry came to Lauren Camp as she stood outside at dusk. She doesn’t see well at that time of day, when the...
Author Ann Fisher-Wirth reminds us of the importance of literature and community when times are at their most challenging. Read her newly published essay now! But What If We Started Listening? by Ann Fisher-Wirth For the past couple of years, I’ve been feeling like a deer in the headlights of...
Kerry Trask was recently mentioned in an article published by Herald Times Reporter Manitowoc Jacob Blake protest: ‘So many people have forgotten how to be human and how to love one another’ Alisa M. Schafer Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter MANITOWOC – A small crowd of protesters gathered at the...
“Juneteenth” by Kathleen Sweeney is a collection of beautiful images. These images help bring more attention to how our society is changing for the better. If you weren’t able to go to a protest, these pictures will take you there. Check out more of her work at her website Kathleen...
Lauren Camp along with Kimberley Quiogue Andrews was recently in a joint interview with Ruben Quesada. Both talk about their journey as poets. Originally posted by Kenyon Review Poetry Today #16: Death and Optimism Ruben Quesada July 28, 2020 Poetry Today is a series that celebrates poetics and aesthetics—the composition, look,...
Read this review of Ann Fisher-Wirth’s “The Bones of Winter Birds” by Stephen Black. Originally published by The Hopper The Bones of Winter Birds by Ann Fisher-Wirth Terrapin Books, 2019 Reviewed by STEPHEN BLACK The Tibetan practice of Tonglen requires the practitioner to breathe in the pain of others and...
Allison Hedge Coke’s poems “Viscera” were recently published in World Literature Today. Viscera by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke Photo courtesy of the author for Rachelle 4/27/2020 Our moms were widows before they met our fathers. Their hair blue-black, their hands already chapped, caressed by Inglis die-cast tooling Bren light machine guns,...
Lauren Camps’ new essay focuses on what gets her through these difficult times. Original article provided by Ecotone Magazine Planting in the high desert is about compromise. What can stand firm through careening wind? What can handle summer’s bubble-wrap heat? Aside from a brief delirium with utterly wrong choices, for...
Lauren Camps “Took House” was recently named Editors Pick for World Literature Today. Read this beautiful review of her book by World Literature Today Took House by Lauren Camp by Daniel Simon Lauren Camp Took House Tupelo Press I will speak of this wind . . . of the seams of desire. —Lauren...
Brenda Peterson publishes a new essay called “Backward Christian Soldiers” which originally appeared on Tikkun. In this essay, Brenda Peterson looks at the connection between social justice and religion. Backward Christian Soldiers By Brenda Peterson | June 10, 2020 The only thing I miss about my Southern Baptist childhood is the music—the melancholy...
Debra Marquart, BEI Emeritus Fellow, originally appeared on Washington County Pilot-Tribune & Enterprise Meet Iowa’s poet laureate (and former rock-n-roller) By Jeff Morgan, Iowa Culture Wire In 1980, Debra Marquart had a promising career. The 24-year-old North Dakota native was shooting to stardom as a singer in a band and...
Debra Marquart, BEI Emeritus Fellow, was recently on Iowa Public Radio. Listen below!
Ann Fisher-Wirth, BEI Senior Fellow, was recently featured on Earthtalk on the Poetry and Planet Podcast! Read original article here. Ann Fisher-Wirth Enchants With Environmental Studies In Verse Ethan Goffman Ann Fisher-Wirth has lived in Germany, Pennsylvania, Japan, California, and Virginia; she has been in Mississippi since 1988. Her sixth...
DJ Lee, BEI Scholar, in The Lewiston Tribute! Read the original article here. Following a story’s path Memoir explores Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness By MICHELLE SCHMIDT mschmidt@inland360.com There are places that don’t belong to us to which we find ourselves connected, often in ways we don’t understand. For DJ (Debbie) Lee,...
BEI Emeritus Fellow, Debra Marquart, recently wrote for the HPR Contributer. Read the original article here. ON THE EPHEMERALITY OF THINGS: THOUGHTS ON THE DEMISE OF A SMALL LITERARY PRESS by Debra Marquart marquart@iastate.edu A few years ago, I was giving a talk at the Fargo Public Library about researching...
BEI Scholar, Liam Heneghan’s Blog, 10 Things Wrong With Environmental Thinking, was featured in The Irish Times. Below is the except about Liam’s Blog in the article, “Getting out into nature with a good blog”. Click here to read the rest of the article. 10 Things Wrong with Environmental Thinking...
Book of poems by Altoona English professor named finalist for book award April 29, 2020 ALTOONA, Pa. — Todd Davis, professor of English and environmental studies at Penn State Altoona, has published a sixth book of poems, “Native Species,” which has been named one of three finalists for the Midwest Book...
Lauren Camp, BEI Senior Fellow, was recently on KUNN’s All That Jazz. Listen here! Poetry…In A Time It’s Needed Most Sat 4/25, 12p: Carol Boss talks with 4 New Mexico poets about the need for poetry in times of uncertainty. Joining her for poetry and conversation is Albuquerque poet laureate...
BEI Senior Fellow, Ann Fisher-Wirth was recently featured on Ole Miss University of Mississippi News website. Click here to view the original article! Grant to Help Expand Environmental Studies Program UM English professor receives National Endowment for the Humanities funding APRIL 29, 2020 BY SHEA STEWART OXFORD, Miss. – A University of Mississippi English...
“If we called abortion ‘miscarriage,’ or maybe ‘optional miscarriage,’ would it be more beautiful?” —Nicole Walker Safe abortion should be an option available to all women, but as they are in the search for legitimate providers, many people declare the fetus to already be a human, to already possess a...
Lauren Camp’s Poem “Red’s Shrewdness” was published in the Columbia Journal on March 31, 2020. Read the Columbia Journal Here. “Red’s Shrewdness” by Lauren Camp “Silence is so accurate.”—Mark Rothko That winter when winter was thick as a knot, Rothko sat sluggish in long-johns and warm black socks, eyes plagued...
Mary Swander, BEI Senior Fellow, recently was featured in the Des Moines Register with an article written about her effort to bring information about COVID-19 to the Amish. Read the original article here or keep scrolling. In eastern Iowa, concerned neighbors take steps to ensure Amish get word about COVID-19...
BEI Emeritus, Todd Davis was recently reported to be a Book of the Year finalist by Penn State News click here to read the original post. Books authored by Davis and Murphy named ‘Book of the Year’ finalists Erin C. Murphy and Todd Davis IMAGE: PENN STATE March 23, 2020...
Debra Marquart, BEI Emeritus Fellow, was the featured poet on March 6th for the Poetry Hour from Studio 47. Listen in here!
Petra Kuppers, BEI Fellow, and author of new book of poetry “Gut Botany” was recently interviewed and written about for The Leader. You can read a copy of the article below, or read the original here. ‘Gut Botany’ presents poetry as avenue to exploring one’s own body and inner strengths Kirk...
Listen to BEI Senior fellow, Lauren Camp, on Poems For the People reading poems from One Hundred Hungers. Poems for the People is a podcast for readings of poems classical and contemporary selected by Mischa Willett, author of THE ELEGY BETA and PHASES. You can find the podcast here!
The three nominees are: Jacqueline Johnson, The Prairie Speaks; DJ Lee, Slime Redemption; J.D. Ho, The Tree with a Thousand Faces.
“I am delighted to announce the Pushcart nominations from About Place Journal: Dignity as an Endangered Species in the 21st Century, edited by me, CM Furhman and Maggie Miller. It’s always tough to make these choices. I wish we could have chosen many more pieces from the fabulous work featured...
BEI Scholar Advisor, Liam Heneghan’s essay, Reading Matters: Why You Should Read about Beasts with Your Children was published by 3 Quarks Daily: Science Arts Philosophy Politics Literature
BEI Senior Fellow Patricia Spears Jones’s poem, An American Haze, was published in Vox Populi: A Public Sphere for Poetry, Politics and Nature.
Catastrophe by the Sea is now out to excellent reviews. Watch this stunning book trailer of Catastrophe by the Sea, with artwork by Caldecott Award Medalist Ed Young. Enjoy!
Ann Fisher-Wirth has been awarded honorable mention for the Auburn Witness Poetry Prize for 2019. The prize honors Jake Adam York and a commitment to Alabama. Ann’s poem, At the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, looks at violence including lynching, and shootings centering on Lucille Clifton’s witnessing these and creating. History...
Read BEI Emeritus Fellow Brenda Peterson’s article in this issue of Tikkun below. Peterson is one of several featured authors who write about decolonization in Tikkun. Peterson’s piece, on page 92, is titled “Ugly and Underfoot: The Colonization of Animals”. This issue of Tikkun also includes Reader Responses to Peterson’s...
Editing literary publications is an opportunity to select art that can strengthen the values and direction for the future from wonderful people. At the recent AWP Pamela Uschuk, editor of Cutthroat, A Journal of the Arts, and a Black Earth Institute Fellow, organized a panel called “Art and Activism, Poetry...
The poem Moon for Our Daughters by Annie Finch, BEI Senior Fellow, was recently published on Poetry.org! Annie Finch is a poet, author, and performer; and has published more than twenty books, most recently Spells: New and Selected Poems. Her incantational, mystical poems explore earth-centered spirituality, merging word, music, and ritual. She leads writing...
Taylor Brorby, Emeritus Fellow, was raised in North Dakota in a family enveloped in the coal industry. In this essay, Biting the Hand That’s Fed Me, he wrote for the Resilience Uncertain Future Forum, Brorby details in heartfelt language his journey away from coal to a leading position in the...
Elizabeth Cunningham, BEI Emeritus Fellow, recently contributed to the Feminism and Religion volunteer-project blog. The purpose of FAR is “to further feminist dialogue while nurturing one another’s work, even across our differences.” Using an excerpt from her book The Passion of Mary Magdalen, Cunningham writes her post “in remembrance of all the refugees...
As part of ASLE (Assocation for the Study of Literature and Environment) annual conference in Davis, California, June 2019, BEI Fellow Petra Kuppers co-led with poet Stephanie Heit a post-conference workshop, Tendings and Eco-poetic Disability Culture: Bodymindspirits of the Future. The workshop offered an artful space for engagement and resource-sharing,...
Congratulations to DJ Lee for submitting her book, Remote: Fifteen Years Through the Wilderness, to Oregon State University Press for print last week. DJ and her new book were chosen by the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) for the “7 Coming-Up Author Showcase”. The 7 Coming-Up event...
Claudia Savage is an Arab American poet, essayist, and performer; and is a member of the Portland-based performance duo Thick in the Throat, Honey. Her BEI project revolves around a book she is currently writing, “Metal Used for Beauty Alone,” which discusses the experiences of those affected by the Syrian refugee crisis....
Emeritus Fellow, Melissa Tuckey will be speaking at the 21st Annual Kateri Peace Conference! Historically, the Kateri Tekakwitha Peace conference has met to examine dangers posed by nuclear conflict, but this year there will also be a focus on the climate crisis. Based on the ideological model of the Iroquois,...
Emeritus Fellow, Patricia Spears Jones was recently asked to participate in the Southern Foodways Alliance’s annual project, Summer Field Trip. SFA is based at the University of Mississippi’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture, and its mission is to “document, study, and explore the diverse food cultures of the changing...
Presented by Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth in collaboration with the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Annual Modern Dance Festival in Fort Worth, TX is celebrating the legacy of Merce Cunningham this month in celebration of his 100th birthday. Within a 16-day window at The Modern, a variety of films,...
Cutthroat, A Journal Of The Arts and The Black Earth Institute are collaborating to publish an anthology of Contemporary Chicanx Writing. We are calling for poems and prose (short stories, flash fiction, hybrids, essays, memoir pieces). Submit up to 5 poems with a 100 word limit per poem, one prose...
BEI Fellow Jaqueline Johnson’s work uses creatively interweaving art forms; frequently, she turns to quilts and poetry to express emotions regarding current events and social injustices. Currently, she is creating a collection and curating an exhibit which explores in depth the modern relationship of the Black community with police forces,...
Congratulations to Alexis Lathem on her residency with the Marble House Project! The Marble House Project residency program focuses on the integration of conservation and earth-centeredness with artistic work, and encourages artists to forge community connections through their art. Alexis is using the residency to develop her project as a...
This week we are delighted to spotlight our Fellow, Petra Kuppers! Petra has pioneered the community performance project Salamander that “uses underwater photography, dry performance workshops, creative writing, clay work, and video… to find our disabled beauty emerging from the deep…” As a disability performance scholar, Petra has led...
Austin Smith lives in rural Illinois and is an acute observer of the world at hand. This poem is from his book Flyover Country, published by Princeton University Press. Cat Moving Kittens We must have known, Even as we reached Down to touch them Where we’d found them Shut-eyed and...
Debra Marquart BEI Emeritus Fellow recently was on Iowa Public Radio- listen here! Debra Marquart had not originally intended to become an acclaimed poet, a distinguished professor at Iowa State University, or Iowa’s next poet laureate. Marquart instead wanted to be a road musician, singing lead for a rock band...
STONECOAST MFA IN CREATIVE WRITING When and how did you first start to take yourself seriously as a writer? What enabled you to make this shift, and what marked the change? I was a performing musician before I became a writer. I had always been interested in writing and studying song...