Katie Holten at Harvard Book Store

presenting

The Language of Trees:
A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape

in conversation with REBECCA MCMACKIN

Harvard Book Store welcomes KATIE HOLTEN—artist and activist who represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale in 2003—for a discussion of her new book The Language of Trees: A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape. She will be joined in conversation by horticulturist, garden designer, and current Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, REBECCA MCMACKIN.

A Return to In-Person Events

Harvard Book Store is excited to be back to in-person programming. To ensure the safety and comfort of everyone in attendance, the following Covid-19 safety protocols will be in place at all of our Harvard Book Store events until further notice:

• Face coverings are required of all staff and attendees when inside the store. Masks must snugly cover nose and mouth.

About The Language of Trees

Inspired by forests, trees, leaves, roots, and seeds, The Language of Trees: A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape invites readers to discover an unexpected and imaginative language to better read and write the natural world around us and reclaim our relationship with it. In this gorgeously illustrated and deeply thoughtful collection, Katie Holten gifts readers her tree alphabet and uses it to masterfully translate and illuminate beloved lost and new, original writing in praise of the natural world. With an introduction from Ross Gay, and featuring writings from over fifty contributors including Ursula K. Le Guin, Ada Limón, Robert Macfarlane, Zadie Smith, Radiohead, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, James Gleick, Elizabeth Kolbert, Plato, and Robin Wall Kimmerer, Holten illustrates each selection with an abiding love and reverence for the magic of trees. She guides readers on a journey from creation myths and cave paintings to the death of a 3,500-year-old cypress tree, from Tree Clocks in Mongolia and forest fragments in the Amazon to the language of fossil poetry, unearthing a new way to see the natural beauty all around us and an urgent reminder of what could happen if we allow it to slip away.

The Language of Trees considers our relationship with literature and landscape, resulting in an astonishing fusion of storytelling and art and a deeply beautiful celebration of trees through the ages.

Praise for The Language of Trees

“An appealing, celebratory offering with an urgent message.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Unmissable.” —LitHub

“A masterpiece. Katie Holten’s tree alphabet is a gift to the printed world.” —Max Porter, author of Grief Is a Thing with Feathers