Door County Reads 2024 explores a book that looks at our relationship with the earth

STURGEON BAY - For its 17th year of exploring and enhancing literature on the Peninsula, Door County Reads is looking to nature and our place in it with the book chosen for this year's exploration, which starts Saturday, Jan. 20, and runs for the next four weeks.

That book is “Braiding Sweetgrass For Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants” by Native American scientist and writer Robin Wall Kimmerer, which is meant to show how acknowledging and celebrating our reciprocal relationship with the earth results in a wider, more complete understanding of our place and purpose. This particular version of the book was condensed and adapted by Monique Gray Smith and illustrated by Nicole Neidhardt, which should allow a wider audience to join the events, all free.

Presented by the Door County Library, Door County Reads is a winter activity that brings the community together to read and discuss one book while celebrating it with performances, writing workshops, lectures and other events related to the book and its culture.

To that end, the Friends of Door County Libraries volunteer group provided almost 600 free copies of Kimmerer's book through the library system's eight branches while more than 500 copies were provided to local schools by Nicolet Federated Library System. Copies also are available through the library's catalog at Infosoup.org, as well as on the Hoopla and Libby apps in eAudiobook and eBook. The original version of the book also is available as an eAudiobook, eBook and Spanish-language eAudiobook.

Kimmerer is a botanist and a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation who strives to bring together the tools of her science and her embrace of plants and animals as our oldest teachers to help people understand the generosity of the earth and learn to give their own gifts in return ‒ as she is quoted in a news release, "a braid of stories meant to heal our relationships with the world.”

The programs open with the traditional Kickoff Event and include a virtual presentation and discussion with the author Feb. 1. As in past years, a number of different types of events related to the topic are planned, with play readings presented by Third Avenue Playhouse and Peninsula Players, a writing workshop offered by Write On, Door County, and programs that offer the chance to make a storytelling bracelet or necklace or a paper turtle.

Here's the Door County Reads 2024 schedule as of Jan. 16, according to the library website. All events are free and open to the public, and some can be viewed online via Zoom. For more information, call the main branch in Sturgeon Bay at 920-743-6578 or visit doorcountylibrary.org/doorcountyreads or the website's Event Calendar page.

• Jan. 20: Kickoff Event, 1 to 3 p.m. Dr. J P Leary, associate professor with the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Education Center for First Nations Studies, leads a discussion on how people can learn with intention, with audience members asked to think about where they learned about the First Nations. Musical guests are Forest County Potawatomi youth drumming group Fire Nation. Egg Harbor Library, Kress Pavilion, 7845 Church St. Zoom meeting ID 835 3502 1988, passcode 575692.

• Jan. 20: Ancient Roots Homestead Journey, 6 p.m. Educators Ben and Lucy Grignon of the Menominee Nation and Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Nation, respectively, discuss their research with traditional gardening practices from their ancestors dating back from ages ago to the present day as they work to reconnect to their cultural inheritance through the land, plants, medicines and wildlife. Indigenous recipes will be shared. Egg Harbor Library, Kress Pavilion. Zoom meeting ID 825 1449 4809, passcode 565789.

• Jan. 21: Rethinking Education and Menominee Traditional Games Workshop, 10 a.m. to noon. Ben and Lucy Grignon discuss how they changed their educational philosophies to create initiatives rooted in traditional ways of being. Hands-on traditional Menominee games and making your own storytelling beaded bracelet or necklace after the talk. Door County Land Trust, 217 N. Fourth Ave., Sturgeon Bay. Zoom meeting ID 834 6167 0863, passcode 014090.

• Jan. 24: Finding Purpose in Research From an Indigenous Perspective, 1 p.m. Dr. Kat Milligan-McClellan, assistant professor of microbiology at the University of Connecticut, discusses the purpose of research from an Indigenous perspective. Zoom only, meeting ID 817 6573 2503, passcode 078563.

• Jan. 25: Book discussion, 10:30 a.m. Between the Pages Book Club discusses “Braiding Sweetgrass For Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants.” Participants and listeners welcome. Egg Harbor Library, Kress Pavilion.

• Jan. 25: Movie Matinee, 2 p.m. Coming-of-age comedy-drama "Smoke Signals." Sturgeon Bay Library, 107 S. Fourth Ave., Sturgeon Bay.

• Jan. 27: Storytelling: The Oneida Creation Story, 10:30 a.m. Oneida language and culture instructor Stephenie Muscavitch VanEvery has attendees listen, and sing and dance, to the Oneida stories of creation and make a small 3-D paper turtle to take home. Miller Art Museum, inside Sturgeon Bay Library.

• Feb. 1: Virtual author talk, 6 p.m. ​Presentation and discussion with Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of “Braiding Sweetgrass For Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants.” Hosted by Crossroads at Big Creek, 2041 Michigan St., Sturgeon Bay, with watch parties at the Sturgeon Bay and Baileys Harbor libraries. Also watch on Zoom, meeting ID 857 2802 4503, passcode 232039.

• Feb. 3: Play reading, 7:30 p.m. "Ushuaia Blue," a work by Caridad Svich about relationships set against the background of climate science in Antarctica. Third Avenue Playhouse, 239 N. Third Ave., Sturgeon Bay.

• Feb. 5: Play reading, 7 p.m. "The Nature Plays," a series of five short plays by Patrick Gabridge centered on the rich natural environment. Presented by Peninsula Players. Vail Hall, Bjorklunden, 7590 Boynton Lane, Baileys Harbor.

• Feb. 6: Book Discussion, 1 p.m. Multicultural Book Club discusses “Braiding Sweetgrass For Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants.” Participants and listeners welcome. Sturgeon Bay Library. Zoom meeting ID 848 2280 2143, passcode 527422.

• Feb. 6: Reciprocal Restoration: Wequiock Creek, 1:30 p.m. Stephanie Dodge talks about a restoration project in Green Bay that uses a reciprocal approach to work closely with First Nations in the area, UW-Green Bay's Cofrin Center for Biodiversity and other stakeholders. The Ridges Sanctuary, 8166 State 57, Baileys Harbor.

• Feb. 7: Author talk, 2 p.m.: Dr. Carol Cornelius, who helped build the First Nations Studies program at UW-Green Bay, discusses her groundbreaking book "A History of Indigenous Voices." Sister Bay/Liberty Grove Library, 2323 Mill Road.

• Feb. 7: Book Discussion, 7 p.m. Baileys Book Club discusses “Braiding Sweetgrass For Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants.” Participants and listeners welcome. Baileys Harbor Library.

• Feb. 13: Write Our Way Home: Place-Based Writing, 10 a.m. to noon. Nonfiction author and teacher Helen Raica-Klotz leads students in exploring their senses to develop a sense of "home," then writing about that place. Write On, Door County, 4210 Juddville Road, Fish Creek.

• Feb. 13: Book Discussion, 2:30 p.m. Readers Rampant Book Club discusses “Braiding Sweetgrass For Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants.” Participants and listeners welcome. Sister Bay/Liberty Grove Library.

Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or cclough@doorcountyadvocate.com.

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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Book on our relationship with the earth is featured in Door County Reads