Portland State Universitys MFA in Creative Writing Program and the Portland Center for Public Humanities present CHRISTOPHER COKINOS, author of The Fallen Sky: An Intimate History of Shooting Stars. Cokinos will read from his new book and discuss environmental writing and editing.
Chris Cokinos, "Vanished Birds and Shooting Stars: Death and Life from the Skies"
November 5, 6:30 PM
Portland State University, Smith Memorial Student Union, Room 333 (1825 S.W. Broadway)
This event is free of charge and open to the public.
In his two nonfiction books, Hope Is the Thing with Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds and The Fallen Sky: An Intimate History of Shooting Stars, Christopher Cokinos has grappled with the tragedy and inevitability of extinctions. From the cautionary tale of the last known wild passenger pigeon (and how the extinction of that species was human-caused) to the effects of meteorite impacts in the past (and the future), Cokinos frames a discussion of extinction within the contexts of personal responsibility and deep time. Surprisingly, out of literal devastation--such as an impact event 500 million years ago--life can emerge. So our time in the Holocene is, in part, a gift of past extinctions. But how do we live now?
For more information, visit www.publichumanities.pdx.edu. Questions? Call 503-725-9662 or publichumanities@pdx.edu.
