An evening with Janisse Ray at the library

     Yesterday while visiting with my neighbor, I told her we were going to have Janisse Ray at the library again and invited her to come hear Janisse talk about her new book.
     After telling her that the reading and book signing would be on Tuesday, November 8th, at 6:30 p.m. at the library, my neighbor said, "Who is Janisse Ray?"
     Silly me!  I assumed that everyone in Georgia who reads knows who Janisse Ray is!  Maybe even if they don't read.  Maybe if they like birds and rivers and longleaf forests; things like that.
     Janisse Ray is a writer, naturalist and activist, who has written four books of literary nonfiction and a collection of poetry.  She lives on a farm in southern Georgia and is an organic gardener, seedsaver, tender of farm animals, and a slow-food cook.  She lectures widely on nature, community, agriculture, wildness, sustainability and the politics of wholeness.
     She has a whole list of titles, including a doctorate from Unity College in Maine, and is on the faculty of Chatham University's low-residency MFA program.
     I've read all her books, but the one I've loved the best is Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, her memoir about growing up in a junkyard in the ruined longleaf pine ecosystem of the Southeast.  Besides being a plea to protect and restore the glorious pine flatwoods of the South, the book looks hard at family, mental illness, proverty, and fundamentalist religion.  Anne Raver of The New York Times said of Janisse Ray, "The forests of the South find their Rachel Carson."
     Ray has also written Wild Card Quilt: Taking a Chance on Home, about a rural community, as well as Pinhook: Finding Wholeness in a Fragmented Land, the story of a 750,000-acre wildland corridor between south Georgia and north Florida.
     Her new book, Drifting into Darien, a Personal and Natural History of the Altamaha River explores Ray's lifelong relationship with the river, which is located in southeast Georgia. 
     The first part of the book chronicles a paddling trip along the entire length of the Altamaha, from where it begins at the confluence of the Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers to where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean near the town of Darien.
     In the second part of the book, Ray writes about many facets of the Altamaha's ecological significance and some of the threats to its remarkable biodiversity.  The Altamaha, which has been the focus of decades of conservation effort by the Nature conservancy, is the largest free-flowing, intact water system on the Atlantic coast and is home to more than 120 rare and endangered species.
     Janisee Ray is a spirited woman, who lives a life she loves and loves to share her concern for our environment.  During her last visit to the library, she drew a crowd of over 200 people.
     This is an event you won't want to miss.  Plan to join us on Tuesday, November 8th, at 6:30 p.m. in the adult reading area for "An Evening with Janisse Ray."  You won't be disappointed.
     For more information about Janisse Ray, visit www.janisseray.weebly.com.