DANA S. BRIGHAM MEMORIAL KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Coming up – Andri Snær Magnason is the Keynote Speaker of the 82nd annual gathering of the Thoreau Society. Thoreau and the politics of extinction. Follow the link to register, online or in person.
Andri Snær Magnason is an Icelandic writer and documentary film director. He writes novels, children’s books, essays, poetry, and nonfiction books. His book On Time and Water has been translated to more than 30 languages. He has been active in the fight against the destruction of the Icelandic Highlands. His book Dreamland: A Self Help Manual for a Frightened Nation takes on these issues, and his text for the memorial of Ok glacier became widely read around the world. He ran for President of Iceland in 2016 with environmental issues on his agenda. He spent some of his early years in New England and now lives in Reykjavik.
(https://andrimagnason.com/wp-en/)
“When I consider that the nobler animals have been exterminated here—the cougar—panther—lynx—wolverine wolf—bear moose–deer, the beaver, the turkey &c &c—I cannot but feel as if I lived in a tamed &, as it were, emasculated country—Would not the motions of those larger & wilder animals have been more significant still—Is it not a maimed & imperfect nature that I am conversant with? . . . The whole civilized country is to some extent turned into a city, and I am that citizen, whom I pity.”
–Henry David Thoreau, the Journal, March 23, 1856