As August draws to a close, our summer book club series with KUOW is wrapping up with a topic relevant to any northwesterner: the connections between trees, salmon, and Indigenous knowledge.
On Wednesday, Aug. 27, at 6:30 p.m., Lynda Mapes will be at the Central Library auditorium to talk about her recent book, “The Trees Are Speaking:Dispatches from the Salmon Forest,” in conversation with KUOW Book Club host Katie Campbell.
Just released in April, the Seattle Times environmental journalist’s latest work is already being hailed as essential reading for anyone interested in environmental stewardship. As Campbell highlighted in a recent KUOW post about “The Trees Are Speaking,” Mapes’ book is anything but academic, brimming with a passion for the old-growth trees that “shines through and makes science feel almost like science fiction.”
One quick excerpt from the book that Campbell cited:
“Old trees matter. It is here that wildlife finds refuge, in the nooks, crannies, and caved-in nest cavities and cool ferny glades of their understory. The thick, complex, and furrowed bark of older trees also creates the homes for insects that in turn feed birds, bats, flying squirrels, and other species. This assemblage of ages and species can be created only over centuries.”
The event, like all library events, is free and open to the public, but registration is required at this EventBrite link.
Bring your questions and curiosity, and no requirement to have read the book! But, if you’re doing Book Bingo this summer, “The Trees Are Speaking” is a perfect fit for the PNW Nature square.
If you’re interested in learning more about Mapes’ long and storied career, check out the Pacific Northwest Magazine story she published last week that reflected on her three decades of covering topics such as dam removal, forest feuds, orca whales in peril, the Columbia River at a crossroads and so much more.
Event information
Lynda Mapes discusses “The Trees are Speaking: Dispatches from the Salmon Forest.” Wednesday, Aug. 27, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Central Library, Level 1 – Auditorium. Registration is required.
Thanks to our sponsors The Seattle Public Library Foundation and The Gary and Connie Kunis Foundation for supporting the Library’s author events.
Catch up on past Summer Book Club events
Bonus! If you missed the first two summer Book Club events this summer, you can watch (or listen to) these conversations online. Here are the conversations with short story author Kim Fu; and with “Be a Revolution” author Ijeoma Oluo.
Top photo credit: The Hall of Mosses, Olympic National Park. Photo by Joshua Earle, Unsplash