A member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation as well as a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. She explores the ways in which other living beings, including asters, strawberries, salamanders, algae – and sweetgrass –offer us lessons even if we fail to hear their voices. Kimmerer argues that awakening ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of reciprocal relationships with the living world. It is only then, she says, that we can her the languages of other beings and understand the generosity of the earth.
Book Leader Cheryl Dunn Discusses Braiding Sweetgrass
Cheryl Dunn grew up in Hays, Kansas. Both parents grew up in farm families, so perhaps it was natural for Cheryl to obtain biology degrees at Ft. Hays State University. She and her husband met in graduate school and today, he works at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission while she is the research manager and herbarium curator for the University of Nebraska Department of Agronomy and Horticulture’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources - Range, Pasture, and Forages program. Sponsoring research, teaching, and extension programs, the organization is committed to addressing the conservation and utilization of rangeland and forage resources.
Radio Reader BookByte Poetry Popups
The poetry pairings for Braiding Sweetgrass include An American Sunrise, by Joy Harjo; Cloudshade: Poems of the High Plains, by Lori Howe; and Local Knowledge: Poems by B.H. Fairchild (formerly of Liberal, KS). Jane Holwerda of Dodge City will coordinate the Poetry Popups.
Jane Holwerda is a seasoned Book Leader for the HPPR Radio Readers Book Club. She is also the vice president of Academic Affairs at Dodge City Community College, yet describes herself as a creative and reflective English major at heart. Holwerda has long kept that spirit alive, publishing dozens of poems, memoirs and short stories over time. Her short story “Vanishing Point” was awarded the Paul Somers Creative Prose Prize by the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature. In addition to being an avid reader, Jane loves hiking, cats and the small towns of the High Plains.
