Join the Library Society and Buxton Books in welcoming back J. Drew Lanham, South Carolinian, American author, poet, and wildlife biologist, to the Main Reading Room for a book tour exclusive event celebrating Joy is in the Justice We Give Ourselves. Recognized in February 2022 by the Post and Courier newspaper as one of twelve Black Leaders in South Carolina, Lanham is a strong advocate for the African-American role in natural resources conservation, intrigued with how culture and ethnic prisms can bend perceptions of nature and its care. He believes that conservation must be a blending of head and heart, rigorous science, and evocative art. His newest work, Joy is the Justice We Give Ourselves, is written in his signature mix of poetry and prose, mines the deep connection to ancestors through the living world, and tunes his unique voice toward embracing the radical act of joy.
“…Black joy shines through in this eco-aware, Black-centered book that offers a refreshing point of view and demands that Black bodies receive the same beautified Earth on which we were all born.” —The New York Amsterdam News
Tickets*: PURCHASE HERE
$30 – Members or $35 – General Admission // 1 Ticket and 1 signed copy of Joy is the Justice We Give Ourselves
$40 – Limited Option // 2 Tickets and 1 signed copy of Joy is the Justice We Give Ourselves*
*There will be a limited number of two for one tickets available, these tickets include two attendees and one signed copy of Joy is the Justice We Give Ourselves*
NOTE: If you are unable to attend the program, and wish to secure a signed copy (or copies!), pre-order HERE or call Buxton Books at (843) 723-1670.
This is a collaborative event with Buxton Books, guest information such as email and name will be shared between both parties for promotional purposes only.
About the book:
From J. Drew Lanham, MacArthur “Genius” Grant Recipient and author of Sparrow Envy: A Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts, comes a sensuous new collection in his signature mix of poetry and prose. In gorgeous and timely pieces, Joy Is the Justice We Give Ourselves is a lush journey into wildness and Black being. Lanham notices nature through seasonal shifts, societal unrest, and deeply personal reflection and traces a path from bitter history to the present predicament. Drawing canny connections between the precarity of nature and the long arm of racism, the collection offers reconciliation and eco-reparation as hopeful destinations from our current climate of division.
About the author:
J. Drew Lanham is the author of Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts and The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature. He has received a MacArthur “Genius” Grant as well as the Dan W. Lufkin Conservation Award (National Audubon Society), the Rosa Parks and Grace Lee Boggs Outstanding Service Award (North American Association for Environmental Education), and the E. O. Wilson Award for Outstanding Science in Biodiversity Conservation (Center for Biological Diversity). He served as the Poet Laureate of Edgefield, South Carolina in 2022. He is a bird watcher, poet, and Distinguished Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Master Teacher at Clemson University. He lives in Seneca, South Carolina.