So, I have not done a newsletter since July, when we returned from Greece.
Last winter and spring was intense: the book and release, readings, interviews and podcasts, a large exhibition and presentations and events around that, capped by a studio residency in Greece. It was exciting but also demanding, and after putting together the newsletter with images from Skopelos, I decided to take a break for the rest of the summer.
But somehow it is now OCTOBER... well past the equinox. (And to be honest, calling the equinox the end of summer already feels like a dodge. For someone like me who teaches, and I suspect for most people, ‘summer’ really ends with Labor Day.
To cap it off, in several conversations lately, the words “Thanksgiving”, “the holidays”, and “Christmas break” have been spoken.
Terrifying.
Plus, things are heating up again, so it is clearly time to for another newsletter, with both a summer recap and upcoming events.
SUMMER RECAP!
*ARTMAKING
In Greece I made paintings and videos about the “Wine Dark Sea”, and Homer. (See past newsletter for info and images)
*BOOK GROUPS—
Though I eased off doing podcasts and talks and etc during the summer, I have been an invited guest to a number of book groups when they were discussing You Should Have Known. It is wonderful to hear the questions and responses from readers, and to sit in on the discussions. In one gathering, a participant told me she’d read the book at the same time she was helping her mother move into an assisted living facility. With emotion in her voice she told me how she was able to be softer and more empathetic with her mother because of the book. I was so very grateful to her for sharing that. Writing can be a lonely and a frustrating business. Attending these groups is a reminder of the reason behind the effort—to connect with what is human. (If anyone is interested, drop me a line. It is something I have come to really enjoy doing.)
*READING---
I spent a summer planning a class that I am now teaching, called Naming Nature. In it we explore how knowledge of the natural world is constructed, and make art framed and inspired by those understandings. Which meant I read a lot about ‘nature’ (in quotes because the word itself is problematic. What does ‘natural’ mean anymore?) Books by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Ed Yong, Anna Tsing, and Lauret Savoy. Poetry by Camille Dungy, Lucille Clifton, Richard Wright, Audre Lorde, essays by Ross Gay and Erin Sharkey. Until I conceptualized the class, these wonderful writers would not have been my summer reading. One of the best things about teaching is the way it forces one into unexpected territory.
And now that it is fall, things are heating up again.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
SUNDAY OCT 15, EVANSTON ART CENTER:
I’ll be participating in the “In Focus” lecture series. The event begins at 3pm!
THURSDAY OCT 26 THE BOOK CELLAR
I’ll be in conversation with BettyJoyce Nash, author of the lovely new novel “Everybody Here is Kin”
https://www.bookcellarinc.com/bettyjoyce-nash-rebecca-keller-everybody-here-kin.
PODCASTS
A Bookable Space—an audio literary salon with Yvonne Battle-Felton.
Hosted by award-winning author and podcaster, Yvonne Battle-Felton, Bookable Space is a podcast where authors read to us, answer three questions about their books, and tell us where to find them. It's a space for writers to reach readers, for readers to find writers, and for everyone in between.
https://shows.acast.com/bookable-space
Read Between the Lines
Molly Southgate interviews authors about their latest books, favorite book series, and more.