Milkweed Books
1011 Washington Avenue South
First floor, Open Book
Minneapolis, MN 55415
United States
THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, PLEASE RSVP HERE.
Join us as Milkweed Books welcomes poet Tess Taylor for a reading from her new book Leaning Toward Light, a collection of contemporary gardening poems with a diverse range of contemporary voices that offer poems celebrating that joyful connection to the natural world, in an era of climate crisis. Tess will read from Leaning Toward Light and be joined in conversation by local author Beth Dooley, followed by time for audience questions and a book signing.
Enjoy a social hour in our brick-and-mortar indie bookstore Milkweed Books beginning at 6 p.m., followed by the reading and conversation beginning at 7 p.m.
About the book
This beautiful poetry anthology offers a warm, inviting selection of poems from a wide range of voices that speak to the collective urge to grow, tend, and heal—an evocative celebration of our connection to the green world.
Much like reading a good poem, caring for plants brings comfort, solace, and joy to many. In this new poetry anthology, Leaning toward Light, acclaimed poet and avid gardener Tess Taylor brings together a diverse range of contemporary voices to offer poems that celebrate that joyful connection to the natural world. Several of the most well-known contemporary writers, as well as some of poetry’s exciting rising stars, contribute to this collection including Ross Gay, Jericho Brown, Mark Doty, Jane Hirshfield, Ada Limón, Danusha Laméris, Naomi Shihab Nye, Garrett Hongo, Ellen Bass, and James Crews. A foreword by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, reflective pauses and personal recipes from some of the contributing poets, along with original, whimsical illustrations by Melissa Castrillon, and a ribbon bookmark complete this stunning, hardcover gift format.
About the speakers
Tess Taylor’s body of work deals with place, ecology, memory and cultural reckoning. She’s published five celebrated poetry collections: The Misremembered World, The Forage House, Last West: Roadsongs for Dorothea Lange, and Rift Zone, one of the Boston Globe’s best books of 2020. Her book Work & Days was one of the NY Times best poetry books of 2016. In fall 2023, she published the anthology Leaning Toward Light: Poems for Gardens and the Hands that Tend Them, a collection of contemporary gardening poems for an era of climate crisis. She lives and gardens just outside Berkeley, California.
Beth Dooley is the author of In Winter’s Kitchen: Growing Roots and Breaking Bread in the Northern Heartland, a Minnesota Book Award finalist. She has also written six cookbooks, including, with Sean Sherman, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen (winner of the James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook); with Lucia Watson, Savoring the Seasons of the Northern Heartland (a James Beard Nominee); and Minnesota’s Bounty: The Farmers Market Cookbook. She is also a Senior Fellow, Endowed Chair in Agricultural Systems, Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture at the University of Minnesota. She writes for the Star Tribune, Mpls St. Paul Magazine, and The Heavy Table, and is a regular guest on Minnesota Public Radio’s Appetites with Tom Crann and KARE 11 (NBC) television. Dooley lives in Minneapolis.