The Cook Memorial Library, along with co-sponsor Chocorua Lake Conservancy, received a program grant from New Hampshire Humanities to host a book group discussion of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer on Tuesday, August 23 at 6:30PM outside behind the Cook Memorial Library in Tamworth Village (indoors if raining). The discussion will be facilitated by Damian Costello, Director of Postgraduate Studies at NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community.
Braiding Sweetgrass was first published in 2013, and currently, the paperback edition has been on the New York Times bestseller list for over 100 weeks. The website Goodreads.com provides this description of the book: “As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings are we capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learning to give our own gifts in return.”
Adult and teen readers are invited to participate in the discussion. Copies of the book Braiding Sweetgrass may be borrowed ahead of time at the library. Register for the discussion at the library when borrowing a copy of the book, or online at bit.ly/CML-CLCdiscussion22. Participants are also invited to a pre-discussion potluck dinner at 6:00PM at the library.
Facilitator: Damian Costello received his Ph.D. in theological studies from the University of Dayton and specializes in the intersection of Catholic theology, Indigenous spiritual traditions, and colonial history. Costello was born and raised in Vermont and his work is informed by five years of ethnographic work on the Navajo Nation. Costello serves as the Director of Postgraduate Studies at NAIITS, an Indigenous designed and delivered ATS accredited graduate school.
New Hampshire Humanities’ “Perspectives” program supports community book discussion groups by providing expert discussion facilitators and copies of books to book group participants. Through the program they aim to help participants to engage with diverse perspectives in the humanities to build understanding and empathy, and to support a culture of reading in the Granite State in partnership with libraries. Learn more at www.nhhumanities.org.
The Cook Memorial Library is located at 93 Main Street in Tamworth, New Hampshire. For more information, call the Cook Memorial Library, 603-323-8510.
This program is also part of “Wabanaki History, Ecology & Experiences,” a series of programs exploring Indigenous history and experiences in what is now called northern New England, a collaboration between the Cook Memorial Library in Tamworth and the Chocorua Lake Conservancy, made possible through a generous grant from The Tamworth Foundation. Please join us next for “Listening to the Land,” a weekend program series with poet Cheryl Savageau to be held September 16-18, co-sponsored by Cook Library, Chocorua Lake Conservancy, and Yeoman's Fund for the Arts. For more information, visit tamworthlibrary.org or chocorualake.org.
Banner image: Goldenrod at Moose Meadows. Photo: Juno Lamb