SUNY Potsdam to Host Award-Winning Author Robin Wall Kimmerer for Free Public Talk & Book Signing on April 3
SUNY Potsdam will welcome award-winning author Robin Wall Kimmerer for a visit and public talk on Thursday, April 3. Her free discussion will be held at 6 p.m. in the Sara M. Snell Music Theater at The Crane School of Music, followed by a book signing and reception in the lobby (Photo credit: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation).
SUNY Potsdam is preparing to host an evening with the award-winning author Robin Wall Kimmerer, including a public discussion, book signing and reception.
The event, titled “Moving Beyond Gratitude: Our Responsibility to Develop a New Narrative for our World,” will be offered on Thursday, April 3 at 6 p.m., in the Sara M. Snell Music Theater at The Crane School of Music.
During her visit to campus, Kimmerer will meet with classes who have been studying her books, stop by the HEARTH, and lead a public workshop in the WISER Greenhouse, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. The day will conclude with her talk, followed by a book signing and reception. A limited supply of books will be available for purchase at the evening event.
Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants,” which has earned Kimmerer wide acclaim. Her first book, “Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses,” was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing, and her other work has appeared in Orion, Whole Terrain, and numerous scientific journals. In 2022, “Braiding Sweetgrass” was adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith. This new edition reinforces how wider ecological understanding stems from listening to the earth’s oldest teachers: the plants around us. Kimmerer’s newest book, “The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World” (released in November 2024), is a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity and community, based on the lessons of the natural world.
Kimmerer tours widely and has been featured on NPR’s “On Being with Krista Tippett” and in 2015 addressed the general assembly of the United Nations on the topic of “Healing our Relationship with Nature.” Kimmerer is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, whose mission is to create programs which draw on the wisdom of both indigenous and scientific knowledge for our shared goals of sustainability. In 2022, she was named a MacArthur Fellow.
As a writer and a scientist, her interests in restoration include not only restoration of ecological communities, but restoration of our relationships to land. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in botany from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, a Master of Science degree and Ph.D. in botany from the University of Wisconsin, and is the author of numerous scientific papers on plant ecology, bryophyte ecology, traditional knowledge and restoration ecology. She lives on an old farm in upstate New York, tending gardens both cultivated and wild.
This is a public event, and free refreshments will be available. While walk-ins will be welcomed at the door, guests are asked to reserve tickets in advance to help the campus prepare for the expected audience size. You can reserve a free ticket online at https://www.givecampus.com/schools/SUNYPotsdam/events/an-evening-with-robin-wall-kimmerer.
This LoKo Arts project is made possible by the generosity and artistic vision of Kathryn (Kofoed) Lougheed ’54 and Donald Lougheed (Hon. ’54). The event was planned in partnership with the Potsdam Native American Initiative.
About SUNY Potsdam:
Founded in 1816, The State University of New York at Potsdam is one of America’s first 50 colleges—and the oldest institution within SUNY. Now in its third century, SUNY Potsdam is distinguished by a legacy of pioneering programs and educational excellence. The College currently enrolls approximately 2,500 undergraduate and graduate students. Home to the world-renowned Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam is known for its challenging liberal arts and sciences core, distinction in teacher training and culture of creativity. To learn more, visit www.potsdam.edu.