VIRTUAL EVENT: "World of Wonders" Aimee Nezhukumatathil in conversation with Ruben Quesada

Aimee Nezhukumatathil will discuss her new book World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments on Monday, October 5th at 7 pm Central Time. The author will be joined in conversation by Ruben Quesada.

This discussion will be hosted on Zoom. After completing your purchase you will receive an email confirmation for your order, and a follow up email with log-in information will be sent before the event begins. For questions, please email matt@unabridgedbookstore.com

“[World of Wonders] walks. It sprints. It leaps. Most importantly, the book lingers in a world where power, people, and the literal outside wrestle painfully, beautifully.”
- Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy

From beloved, award-winning poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil comes a debut work of nonfiction--a collection of essays about the natural world, and the way its inhabitants can teach, support, and inspire us.

As a child, Nezhukumatathil called many places home: the grounds of a Kansas mental institution, where her Filipina mother was a doctor; the open skies and tall mountains of Arizona, where she hiked with her Indian father; and the chillier climes of western New York and Ohio. But no matter where she was transplanted--no matter how awkward the fit or forbidding the landscape--she was able to turn to our world's fierce and funny creatures for guidance.

"What the peacock can do," she tells us, "is remind you of a home you will run away from and run back to all your life." The axolotl teaches us to smile, even in the face of unkindness; the touch-me-not plant shows us how to shake off unwanted advances; the narwhal demonstrates how to survive in hostile environments. Even in the strange and the unlovely, Nezhukumatathil finds beauty and kinship. For it is this way with wonder: it requires that we are curious enough to look past the distractions in order to fully appreciate the world's gifts.

Warm, lyrical, and gorgeously illustrated by Fumi Nakamura, World of Wonders is a book of sustenance and joy.

Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of World of Wonders, an illustrated essay collection published by Milkweed Editions in September 2020, as well as of four books of poetry, including, most recently, Oceanic, winner of the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award. Other awards for her writing include fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Mississippi Arts Council, and MacDowell. Her writing appears in Poetry, the New York Times MagazineESPN, and Tin House. She serves as poetry faculty for the Writing Workshops in Greece and is professor of English and Creative Writing in the University of Mississippi’s MFA program.

 

 

 

Ruben Quesada is the author of RevelationsNext Extinct Mammal, and Exiled from the Throne of Night. Currently, Ruben teaches in the Writing and Publishing graduate program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts and online for the UCLA Writers’ Program. His philanthropy includes serving as the Vice-Chair of the State of Illinois Poet Laureate search committee and as a member of the PEN America Literary Awards committee. He is a contributor at The Kenyon Review and a poetry editor at AGNI magazine.

 
World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments By Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Fumi Nakamura (Illustrator) Cover Image
$25.00
ISBN: 9781571313652
Availability: Available, order here for delivery or pickup.
Published: Milkweed Editions - September 8th, 2020

Revelations By Ruben Quesada Cover Image
$10.00
ISBN: 9781943977543
Availability: Not in stock. Order here for delivery or to pickup later.
Published: Sibling Rivalry Press, LLC - November 15th, 2018

Event date: 

Monday, October 5, 2020 - 7:00pm

Event address: 

Unabridged Books, Inc.
Chicago, IL 60657