Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of “Braiding Sweetgrass," will speak at Nazareth College on Tuesday, 10 years after the book was first published.
Kimmerer is a best-selling Indigenous author. The narrative of “Braiding Sweetgrass” weaves together scientific and Indigenous understandings of the natural world and our relationship with it. Kimmerer’s talk comes on the heels of being named a MacArthur Fellow.
“It's a very human relatable story that I think I think a lot of people will find value in,” said Steve Tolson, director of Nazareth College’s Writing Center. “But she also connected to the larger really significant issues around environmentalism and how we really need to be good stewards of this world that we're living in.”
Over the years, the book “Braiding Sweetgrass” has garnered a wide audience through readers’ word-of-mouth recommendations. It became a New York Times best-seller in 2020. Through her publicist, Kimmerer declined an interview request.
“It's very hard to change someone's mind, especially when they already have an opinion, or worse, they're indifferent,” said Tolson. “And I think storytellers fill this void in some ways, where it makes us want to care about something that we didn't know we wanted to care about.”
That kind of storytelling has the power to inspire people to make changes in their lives and in their communities, Tolson said.
The event, which is open to the public, starts at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Callahan Theater at Nazareth College Art Center.
