Lisa Lucas, Executive Director of National Book Foundation, Leads Off with a Discussion of Parable of the Sower on September 22
Brooklyn Public Library and Writers Rebel NYC are launching a year-long climate series engaging writers and readers in a discussion of books shedding light on the climate crisis and environmental justice, to help guide and inspire ordinary people to take necessary action.
The kickoff book for September is Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. Lisa Lucas, executive director of the National Book Foundation, will moderate the discussion via Zoom on September 22 (Registration is required.) Lucas will be joined by writers Mary Annaïse Heglar and Emily Raboteau.
“In the name of telling the truth about the climate crisis, Writers Rebel NYC, along with our partners at Brooklyn Public Library, aims to position literary creativity, language, and storytelling as crucial means of inspiring courage, conversation, and action for our climate and environment,” said the writer Emily Raboteau, co-creator of Climate Reads. “One of our efforts is a year-long reading series focused on celebrating and protecting the earth, open to the public, beginning this September with Octavia Butler's prophetic Parable of the Sower.
The book—set in the early 2020s in California where climate change and economic crises have led to social chaos—recently became a best seller nearly 27 years after it was published.
The story centers around pervasive water shortages and masses of vagabonds who will do anything to live to see another day. Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated community with her preacher father, family, and neighbors, sheltered from the surrounding anarchy. In a society where any vulnerability is a risk, she suffers from hyperempathy, a debilitating sensitivity to others' emotions.
The second event in the series takes place on October 22 with acclaimed author Jenny Offill (Weather, Dept. of Speculation) and her 12-year-old daughter, Theodora, discussing Greta Thunberg’s No One Is Too Small to Make A Difference. Thunberg, now age 17, is well known for her protest in 2018, skipping school and sparking a global movement to protect the planet. To join the conversation, please register here.
Climate Reads is one of a series of Library initiatives centered on climate change and the environment including the opening of the Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center, coming soon.
The ongoing Green Series includes commissioned talks and conversations by climate scientists and activists. In September, Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson discusses All We Can Save: Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis which features the expertise and insights of dozens of diverse women leading the charge on climate change in the United States; and in October, John Freeman, Lauren Groff and others discuss Tales of Two Planets, stories that help us see how the environmental crisis is hitting some of the most vulnerable communities where they live.
Climate Wednesdays, in partnership with 350 BK, is a series of discussions on urban ecology, transportation, and job creation. The series will return in early 2021.
For more in the series, visit BPL Presents. Climate Reads: Parable of the Sower is made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
About Brooklyn Public Library
Brooklyn Public Library is one of the nation’s largest library systems and among New York City’s most democratic institutions. As a leader in developing modern 21st century libraries, we provide resources to support personal advancement, foster civic literacy, and strengthen the fabric of community among the more than 2.6 million individuals who call Brooklyn home. We provide nearly 65,000 free programs a year with writers, thinkers, artists, and educators—from around the corner and around the world. And we give patrons millions of opportunities to enjoy one of life’s greatest satisfactions: the joy of a good book.