Special Event – On Extended Wings: American Birds and American Writing

Have you ever wondered what role birds have played in American literature?  Well it turns out, quite a lot.

That is why the Library of America, a nonprofit organization focused on preserving and promoting, publishing, and providing readers with opportunities to engage in American writing, is hosting an online conversation with Olivia Gentile, poet Sidney Wade, wildlife biologist and author J. Drew Lanham, and Andrew Rubenfeld, co-editor of the Library of America’s anthology American Birds: A Literary Companion.

This event is scheduled for June 17th at 6:00 PM EDT.  There is no cost to register for this event.  However, if you can afford to pay something, they do ask for a donation to support this and future LOA events. 

The LOA describes this event as a virtual cocktail party, a celebration of summer, and an “exploration of the mystery and magic of birds and the imaginative flights they’ve inspired.”  

The LOA also states: 

“Like their counterparts in English Romantic poetry and elsewhere, American poets and writers have been fascinated by birds, compelled by their beauty, their strangeness, their mysterious, fleeting presence. From the colonial period to the present they have sought to evoke the ways that birds enchant us, connect us with nature’s wonder, fragility, and sometimes savagery, and offer moments of transcendence.”

There will be a brief Q&A session after the event and you will be able to submit questions to the event moderator.

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I am very much looking forward to this event and I hope to gather some interesting stories that I can share later.  If anyone else attends, I would be interested in hearing your thoughts about the event.  

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 Resources:

• Library of America
• On Extended Wings: American Birds and American Writing Event  Registration Page