Join us as we discuss Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Uniting art and literature, let’s come together for an engaging conversation that will expand our experience of the book as well as our current exhibition. Tonight’s discussion will be led by Darren Parry, former Chairman of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation. Read more about Darren and Braiding Sweetgrass below!

About Braiding Sweetgrass

A New York Times Bestseller. A Washington Post Bestseller. Named a “Best Essay Collection of the Decade” by Literary Hub As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise” (Elizabeth Gilbert). Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings―asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass―offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.

About Darren Parry

Darren Parry is the former Chairman of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation. Darren serves on the Utah Humanities and the PBS Utah Board of Directors. He attended the University of Utah and Weber State University and received his Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Education. Darren is the author of “The Bear River Massacre; A Shoshone History” and teaches Native American History at Utah State University. He lectures around the country on Native American issues surrounding history and Indigenous views related to sustainability. He recently gave a lecture at the University of Copenhagen and spoke about Indigenous views to Climate and Environment. His passions in life are his wife Melody, 7 children and 17 grandchildren. His other passion is his Tribal family. He wants to make sure that those who have gone before him are not forgotten.