Severson Dells Nature Center presents
“The Greatest Adventure: A Survivor’s Guide to a Melting Century”, by Doug Peacock
Sunday, April 27, 2:00 p.m.
At University of Illinois College of Medicine
$5.00 adults, students free
Sponsored in part by Headwaters of Hall Creek and Pheasants Forever Winnebago County Chapter
In Doug Peacock’s presentation he will discuss his thrilling new narrative, In the Shadow of the Sabertooth. The book is a deeply personal odyssey that follows Peacock from archeological digs in Michigan and Montana, to the tiger haunted forests of Siberia, along the wild coast of the Pacific Northwest, into the rugged arroyos of Mexico and the American Southwest. He will also talk about his relationship with Edward Abbey and his experiences studying grizzly bears. It promises to be one of those nights you will long remember. Call to register: 1-815-335-2915.
Winnebago County Forest Preserve District Presents:
The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food
By Janisse Ray
Presentation and book signing, at Severson Dells Nature Center
Sponsored in part by University of Illinois Extension Service
Saturday, May 3, 7:00 p.m.
Writer, naturalist, and activist Janisse Ray is the author of five books of literary nonfiction and a collection of nature poetry. Her most recent book, The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food is a look at what’s happening to seeds, which is to say the future of food. The book has won the Arlene Eisenberg Award for Writing that Makes a Difference, American Horticultural Society Book Award, Nautilus Gold Book Award, Garden Writers Association Gold Award, and Green Prize for Sustainable Literature Award.
Her first book, Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, a memoir about growing up on a junkyard in the ruined longleaf pine ecosystem of the Southeast, was published by Milkweed Editions in 1999. The book won Southeastern Booksellers Award for Nonfiction 1999, American Book Award 2000, Southern Environmental Law Center 2000 Award for Outstanding Writing, and Southern Book Critics Circle Award 2000. It was a New York Times Notable Book and was chosen as the Book All Georgians Should Read. Besides a plea to protect and restore the glorious pine flatwoods, the book is a hard look at family, mental illness, poverty, and religion. Essayist Wendell Berry called the book “well done and deeply moving.”
The author has been a visiting professor and writer-in-residence at many universities and colleges across the county. When at home, Ray attempts to live a simple, sustainable life on Red Earth Farm in southern Georgia with her husband and daughter. Ray is an organic gardener, tender of farm animals, slow-food cook, and seed-saver. She lectures nationally and widely on nature, community, agriculture, wildness, sustainability, and the politics of wholeness. Call to register: 1-815-335-2915.