Ann Fisher-Wirth Releases New Book, MISSISSIPPI

In an unforgettable partnership, BEI Fellow Ann Fisher-Wirth and photographer Maude Schuyler Clay have collaborated on MISSISSIPPI, a gorgeous new book that offers a new spirit of place for their home state. The book features 47 poems by Ann Fisher-Wirth and 47 color photographs by Maude Schuyler Clay that explore the history,...

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Linda Hogan’s Poem Inspires Chickasaw Identity Musical Performance

The South Dakota Symphony Youth Orchestra joins the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra to perform a scene from American Indian composer Jerod Impichcaachaaha’ Tate’s Lowak Shoppala’ (Fire and Light) on Saturday, Feb. 3, at 7:30 p.m., during an evening of music at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls. Tate’s Lowak Shoppala’, created as an...

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Research by Cristina Eisenberg at High Lonesome Ranch

An article written by Kelly Bastone was published this month in Denver magazine, 5280, about The High Lonesome Ranch in western Colorado. BEI Emeritus Fellow Cristina Eisenberg has conducted research projects at the ranch concerning her work with wolves, specifically, “trophic cascades,” or how wolves and other top predators have a waterfall effect...

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Mary Swander to Read at Iowa Orpheum Theater

On Thursday, February 22, 2018, Iowa Poet Laureate and BEI Emeritus Fellow Mary Swander will read, discuss, and maybe share a banjo tune! Admission is free because this event is funded by Humanities Iowa. Come along from 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm at the Orpheum Theater Center, 220 E. Main St., Marshalltown, IA. If you are...

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The People’s Music Network Concert features Regie Gibson

People’s Music Network Concert: 7:30 to 10 p.m. Jan. 26 First Parish Church 1446 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge. Tickets: $11-$20.   The People’s Music Network, a national community of musicians and activists dedicated to making music for positive social change in the world, will kick off its 2018 Winter Gathering with...

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Lauren Camp Discusses the Immigrant Experience

Readings and discussion about the immigrant experience are to take place at the Mesa Public Library’s Upstairs Rotunda. The readings will feature Los Alamos poet Jane Lin and BEI Fellow Lauren Camp, both of whose work is anthologized in the new book “Two-Countries – US Daughters & Sons of Immigrant Parents,” edited...

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Regie Gibson Amplifies Youth Voices

The inaugural Mass Cultural Council Institute will take place on March 17 at the DCU Center in Worcester. Its aim is to connect youths and their peers with city and town leadership from every corner of the Commonwealth. Our youth have tremendous capacity to be a visible and audible part...

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From Shakespeare to Hiphop with Regie Gibson

Rhode Island Black Storytellers hosts a unique event melding Shakespeare and hiphop with words and music featuring Emeritus fellow Regie Gibson and Marlon Carey, their band and others. This celebration takes place Sunday, 14th January 2018 04:00 PM – 06:00 PM at South Side Cultural Center, 393 Broad Street, Providence, RI. Email – info@ribsfest.org Website – www.ribsfest.org

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EcoLit Book Group Reads Linda Hogan

This month, Wood County Park District programs’ EcoLit Book Group will discuss “Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World,” nature essays by Linda Hogan. The meeting will take place on Jan. 11th from 7-9 p.m. at W.W. Knight Nature Preserve, 29530 White Road, Perrysburg in the Hankison Great Room. Discussion leader:...

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Kathleen Sweeney’s Soul Realignment Workshop

Join BEI fellow Kathleen Sweeney, owner of The Center of Holistic Wellness in Mount Vernon, on Tuesday, January 23, 2018 at 06:30pm for a workshop to realign your Soul Blueprint. An individual’s Spiritual DNA, or Soul Blueprint, holds our greatest gifts and abilities. This workshop explains how this Blueprint becomes contaminated...

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Regie Gibson to Judge Worcester County Poetry Contest

The Worcester County Poetry Association is now accepting submissions to its annual poetry contest. BEI Emeritus Fellow, Regie Gibson, will select three winners to receive cash prizes and the winning poem will be published in the next edition of The Worcester Review, the WCPA’s nationally recognized journal. The talented chosen...

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Black Earth Institute emblem

2017 Fellows and Scholars Report

This has been a great year for the fellows and scholars of the Black Earth Institute. Their achievements across many disciplines showcase their creativity and activism and are expressions of BEI’s mission of having art address the spirit, protecting the earth and social justice. We have not only produced such...

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Linda Hogan To Speak at UCCS Commencement

Emeritus fellow Linda Hogan will speak at the University of Colorado – Colorado Springs winter commencement on December 15.  Hogan is an alumna of UCCS.  Her accomplishments in the state include teaching creative writing at both CU Boulder and Colorado College.  On December 14th, Hogan will hold a reading and...

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Annie Finch’s Book on Meter and Form for Sale

BEI Senior Fellow, Annie Finch is a prolific poet, constantly publishing her poems in new journals, and expanding her horizons as a writer. Now, Finch is offering writers a chance to learn from her experience. Purchase and read her book, “A Poet’s Ear: A Handbook of Meter and Form” to...

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Annie Finch Publishes Poem in MAGO E* Magazine

BEI Senior Fellow Annie Finch recently publish a poem: (Poem) Samhain in the Mago E* Magazine. Samhain refers to a Gaelic Holiday which marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. Read the poem here to see this piece, originally published in Eve in the Carnegie...

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Annie Finch’s Poetry Read at Nasty Women Reading

Over the next few months, readings from “Nasty Women Poets: An Anthology of Subversive Verse” will take place around the country. On Monday, Oct. 30, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln hosted one of these readings at the Bailey Library located inside of Andrews Hall. This poetry anthology and arrangement of readings...

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Listen to Lauren Camp Read on Soundcloud

BEI Fellow, Lauren Camp can be heard reading her poems from her most recent book, “One Hundred Hungers” on the following link to Soundcloud. The Book explores her Iraqi-Jewish heritage, and her father’s personal life history growing up in Baghdad, as well as the sabbath dinners spent in America with...

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Liam Heneghan Publishes new Article in The Wire

BEI Resident Scholar Advisor, Liam Heneghan recently published an article in The Wire, entiteled “Here’s a New Word for that Feeling When Travel Makes Everything New.” The word being: Allokataplixis- The gift usually unacknowledged, that the traveler offers the place they visit. Heneghan focuses on that magical feeling of being swept away...

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Mary Swander’s “Vang” Brings Immigration to Centerstage

BEI Emeritus Fellow Mary Swander’s play “Vang” has been successfully performed multiple times now in Detroit, and has brought the topic of immigration to centerstage. Playwright Swander said regarding the play “It raises questions about the stereotypes that we have about immigrants.”The play portrays migrant farmers from Thailand, Sudan and...

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Liam Heneghan has New Book with Chicago Press

BEI Resident Scholar Advisor, Liam Heneghan has a new book with the Chicago Press for sale. The book is called “Beasts at Bedtime,” and seeks to reveal the environmental wisdom in children’s literature. Heneghan has been a part of projects to create new words to cultivate an appreciation of people’s...

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Lauren Camp

Lauren Camp has two Poems Publishes in Apogee Journal

BEI Fellow, Lauren Camp recently published two poems, “While They Make Money on the Far Side of Home,” and “Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta Echo.” Both poems seek to create a more well-rounde view of political affairs, speaking about what happens to less wealthy, or minority populations while industry and war...

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Brenda Peterson Speaks on Restoring Wildlife on New Dimensions Radio

BEI Emeritus fellow, Brenda Peterson recently appeared on New Dimensions Radio, a station that promotes “Activism, art, education, science, psychology, philosophy, health, spirituality… all these things and more.” In this segment, entitled, “The Benefit of Restoring Wildlife into the Ecosystem,” Peterson lends her expert knowledge on wolves, and ecosystems as...

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Lauren Camp’s “One Hundred Hungers” gets Honorable Mention in Arab American Book Awards

BEI Fellow, Lauren Camp recently received honorable mention for the Arab American Book Awards. In her new collection, Lauren Camp explores the lives of a first-generation Arab-American girl and her Jewish-Iraqi parent. One Hundred Hungers tells overlapping stories of food and ritual, immigration and adaptation, evoking her father’s boyhood in Baghdad in...

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Patricia Spears Jones Posts New Poem

BEI Senior Fellow, Patricia Spears Jones recently posted a new poem on her website titled “The city joyful, They city traditional, The city holding on.” The poem is about a young female toddler performing her dance for an audience, and the fact that there is still hope and beauty in...

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Brenda Peterson Featured in The Revelator Article

BEI Emeritus Fellow Brenda Peterson, was recently featured in an article written in The Revelator, an initative for the center of biological diversity. The article, written by environmental journalist Erica Cirino, entitled “Rethinking the Big, Bad Wolf,” leans on Peterson’s newest work, “Wolf Nation” to assert its logic. “While nonlethal...

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Annie Finch Featured on Tribarch WordPress

BEI Senior Fellow Annie Finch is trying to bring more creative energy, acknowledgment, and appreciation for summer. Says Finch on Tribarch” “I suspect one reason the poetic power of summer is subtler than that of other seasons is that summer doesn’t really need poets to celebrate or understand it. Summer is...

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Lauren Camp

Lauren Camp featured by Poetry Foundation

BEI fellow Lauren Camp’s biography can be seen on the Poetry foundation website. They note her status as a BEI Fellow, as well as some of her most recent publications. They also note her upcoming books of poetry. Lauren Camp is the author of three books, including One Hundred Hungers(2016), which...

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Lauren Camp

Lauren Camp Publishes in Wildness Literary Journal

BEI Fellow, Lauren Camp recently published her poem “Away” in the Wildness Literary Journal. Wildness is an online literary journal that seeks to publish contemporary poetry, fiction and nonfiction that evokes the unknown—the lostness; the distance. Lauren Camp is the author of three books, most recently One Hundred Hungers (Tupelo Press, 2016),...

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Brenda Peterson Reads “Wolf Music” on Orion Magazine

Orion Magazine has recently uploaded a podcast of an emeritus fellow, Brenda Peterson, reading “Wolf Music”. “Wolf Music” is a chapter from her new book called Wolf Nation: The Life, Death, and Return of Wild American Wolves. In this podcast, Peterson contemplates the wonderful harmony and mystery associated with the howl of...

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Annie Finch’s Essay, “Druidic Difference” Posted on Poetry Foundation Website

An Emeritus Fellow, Annie Finch, has had her essay “Druidic Difference” shared on the Poetry Foundation’s Website. “Druidic Difference” explores the feelings and sensations of summer, considering the many riches and treasures the season has to offer. Contemplating how other authors might think of summer, Finch explains how summer allows...

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Lauren Camp

Lauren Camp Publishes Poem on Poets.org

BEI Fellow, Lauren Camp recently had her poem “Original Hope” published on Poets.Org. This poem covers the patterns that exist within life and coming to have a patience and understanding of such. Lauren Camp is the author, most recently, of One Hundred Hungers (Tupelo Press, 2016) and The Dailiness (Edwin E....

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Tom Montgomery Fate Published in Chicago Tribune, Talks Thoreau

BEI Emeritus Fellow, Tom Montgomery Fate recently published an article in the Chicago Tribune, commemorating Thoreau’s 200th birthday. Commemorating, but also recreating, or reconstructing his biography. This came after writer, and scholar Laura Dassow Walls wrote a piece discussing how Thoreau’s social justice background, and reputation as a hermit in...

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Brenda Peterson Howls Out Against Wolf Hunts

BEI Emeritus Fellow, Brenda Peterson recently was featured on the Soundcloud page,”Your Life is a Book,” in a segment entitled “Honorable Hunters Howl Out Against Wolf Hunts.” This spurred from an article Peterson had published in the Huffington Post in 2014. The Opening line of that article reads: “I am...

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Lauren Camp

Lauren Camp has New Poem Published in Glass Poetry Journal

BEI Fellow, Lauren Camp recently had her poem “Such Bowers of Surrender” published in the Glass Poetry Journal. Lauren Camp is the author of three books, most recently One Hundred Hungers (Tupelo Press), which won the Dorset Prize. More of Lauren’s poetry can be found at her website, http://www.laurencamp.com/. Below, you can...

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Louise Halfe to Speak at National Aboriginal Day

As part of National Aboriginal Day, Louse Halfe will be speaking on behalf of The University of Saskatchewan at 9:30am. Following her speech, there will be a Walk for Reconciliation event and traditional games, dances and art at Wanuskewin Heritage Park. The event is a collective effort by the community...

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Brenda Peterson, National Geographic Book Talk

BEI Emeritus Fellow Brenda Peterson was recently interviewed by National Geographic in an article entitled “Why We’re So Divided Over Saving Wolves.” The Article highlights Peterson’s upbringing with hunters, and wildlife managers, those typically thought to be more against wolves, and explains how this upbringing shaped her perspective. Peterson calls the...

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Todd Davis

Todd Davis Read at Galaxy Bookshop

This past friday, BEI Fellow Todd Davis read poetry, along with two other poets, and one local author at the Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, VT. All four authors were nature writers, with specific skills for capturing the physical and emotional landscapes of an area. The event was free and open...

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Upcoming Regie Gibson Spoken Word Performance

On Friday, June 23rd, 12pm-1pm, BEI Emeritus Fellow Regie Gibson will be performing Spoken Word Poetry in the lower level of the African Meeting House at the Museum of African History. Gibson will be following a talk by National Park Ranger and education activist, Ryan McNabb. Nelson has performed in...

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Brenda Peterson’s “Wolf Nation” and Importance of Ecological Balance Highlighted by Winnipeg Free Press

Brenda Peterson, BEI Emeritus Fellow’s recent book, “Wolf Nation” was recently covered in the “Books” section of the Winnipeg Free Press in an article entitled “Predator and Prey: Wolves Crucial to Ecological Balance, author argues.” A key main point brought up that is threatening wolves are lobbyists and hunters, backed by large...

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Submit to About Place Journal: Political Landscapes

Call for Submissions Issue Editor: Taylor Brorby Assistant Issue Editors: Noah Davis and Jenna Mertz Open for submissions on June 1, 2017 All submissions are due by August 15, 2017 How to submit and submission guidelines found here POLITICAL LANDSCAPES For this issue of About Place, editor Taylor Brorby seeks prose...

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John T. Price

John T. Price’s Letter to America on Terrain.org

John T. Price, writer and BEI fellow emeritus, is featured in Terrain.org’s Letter to America series. Modeled after a break-up letter, his letter is worth a read. Dear America, I’ve come here to one of my favorite spots of Nebraska prairie to think over our relationship, and I’ve come to a...

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Patricia Spears Jones wins Jackson Poetry Prize

Patricia Spears Jones, poet and BEI Emeritus fellow, has been awarded the prestigious Jackson Poetry Prize. The prize, hosted by Poets & Writers, is awarded “to an American poet of exceptional talent who deserves wider recognition.” The substantial prize is given to provide time and encouragement to write. Poets Henri...

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Cristina Eisenberg featured in National Geographic’s Voices for Wildlife

Christina Eisenberg, the Chief Scientist of Earthwatch Institute and BEI Emeritus fellow, was featured in National Geographic’s Voices for Wildlife blog last week. Dr. Eisenberg is leading a study in partnership with the Blackfoot First Nation, preparing to return bison to tribal lands in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and Alberta’s Waterton Lakes...

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Poetry Project’s 50th Anniversary Gala

As an organization that spans long distances, it is always a pleasure to share when BEI members have paths that cross through their work. The Poetry Project is hosting its first-ever gala to celebrate its 50th anniversary in Manhattan. The gala will honor Anne Waldman for her radical and inspiring contributions to international contemporary...

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