THE WALKING READERS’ GROUP: Walk monthly with up to fifteen fellow nature-lovers to enjoy shared outdoor times while considering a literary text together. Each month we meet in the parking lot of the Tidmarsh Sanctuary, owned by Massachusetts Audubon, to walk and talk about a specific book from which we read excerpts. We read poetry and prose that focus on the natural world.

EMAIL ME BEFORE EACH MEET-UP IF YOU PLAN TO ATTEND SO WE CAN CONTROL OUR GROUP SIZE: Ellen’s email: esnoeyen8@gmail.com

Our Fall/Winter Meetup time will be 10 AM in the Main Parking Lot.

Feel free to invite others but just let me know when you do so we can keep to a fifteen person limit.

THE AGENDA FOR UPCOMING SESSIONS IS AS FOLLOWS:

December 7, 10 AM: The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer

January 4, 10 AM: You Are Here: Poetry of the Natural World edited by Ada Limon

February 1 10 AM: The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl

March 1 10 AM: Bright Wings: an illustrated anthology of poems about birds, edited by Billy Collins, illustrated by David Sibley.

PAST SESSIONS:

2024:

November 9: Birding to Change the World by Trish O’Kane

October 12: Sparrow Envy by J.Drew Lanham

September 14: Forest Bathing by Qing Li

August 17: Poetry of the overlooked from the National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry

July 20: Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden by Camille T. Dungy

May 4: Poetry by Indigenous American Writers: Scott Momoday, Sherman Alexie, Joy Harjo, Maurice Kenney

April 6: Excerpts from Barry Lopez essays

March 30: Robert Frost Nature Poetry

February 24: Nature’s Wild Ideas: How the Natural World is Inspiring Scientific Innovation by Kristy Hamilton

January 27: Devotions, more selections from Mary Oliver’s last anthology

2023:

December: Of Time and Turtles by Sy Montgomery

November: Black Nature edited by Camille Dungy

October: The Heirloom Gardener by John Forti

September: Selected Poetry by Emily Dickinson

August: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

July: Selected Poetry by Wendell Berry

June: An Immense World by Ed Yong

May: Turtle Island by Gary Snyder

April: The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben

March: Bright Wings edited by Billy Collins

February: The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Mongomery

January: Devotions by Mary Oliver

We'll do a little reading out loud of excerpts to discuss on each walk.

If the weather is horrible, we will reschedule.

Email me to be put on the group contact list: esnoeyen8@gmail.com

Tidmarsh Wildlife Sanctuary, Plymouth, MA