Join award-winning authors Sy Montgomery, Leila Philip, and Susie Spikol for an evening of science and storytelling as they discuss some of the wonders of the natural world featured in their books, share new projects in nature-based restoration, and talk about ways we can learn from the animal world to better face our environmental challenges. From turtles and beavers to rain walkers and owls, animals can teach us. We can learn.

7 to 8 p.m. at the Harris Center. Space is limited, and registration is encouraged. For more information, including questions about accessibility, contact Susie Spikol.

Co-sponsored by the Harris Center for Conservation Education and the Toadstool Bookshop.

About Sy Montgomery

Researching articles, films, and her 38 books for adults and children, nationally bestselling author Sy Montgomery has been chased by an angry silverback gorilla in Rwanda, hunted by a tiger in India, and swum with piranhas, electric eels and pink dolphins in the Amazon. Her work has taken her from the cloud forest of Papua New Guinea (for a book on tree kangaroos) to the Altai Mountains of the Gobi (for another on snow leopards.) For The Soul of an Octopus (a National Book Award finalist) she befriended octopuses at the New England aquarium and scuba dived and snorkeled with wild octopuses in Mexico and French Polynesia. For her national bestseller for adults, Of Time and Turtles, she befriended a 42-pound wild snapping turtle named Fire Chief, who shows his extraordinary trust by allowing her to feed him by hand. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband, the writer Howard Mansfield, and their border collie Thurber.

About Leila Philip

Leila Philip is the author of award-winning books of nonfiction that chronicle diverse, personal journeys. Her most recent book, Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America, explores the remarkable ecological and historical role of beavers in North America, weaving together stories of fur trappers, wildlife managers, scientists, Indigenous environmental advocates, and modern-day “beaver believers.” In The Road Through Miyama, Leila traveled to Japan to apprentice with a master potter in southern Kyushu. A Family Place: A Hudson Valley Farm, Three Centuries, Five Wars, One Family took her closer to home, weaving the history of the Hudson Valley farm where she spent her childhood with an account of orchard cultivation and family history. A Guggenheim Fellow, Leila has also received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She works across genres, publishing poetry, essays, and theatrical scripts, and is currently at work on a documentary film. A former contributing columnist for The Boston Globe, she teaches in the Environmental Studies Program at the College of the Holy Cross, where she is a professor in the English Department.

About Susie Spikol

Writer and Harris Center teacher-naturalist Susie Spikol has spent her life exploring the intersection of nature and story. Growing up in Brooklyn, she searched for fairies and gnomes, enchanted by fireflies and snails — an early love of nature that shaped her 30-year career as a naturalist and educator. She has inspired thousands through hands-on programs and public talks, earning numerous awards for her work. A regular contributor to Yankee, Northern Woodlands, and Taproot Magazine, she also writes the “Backyard Nature” column for the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript. Her first book, published in 2022,  The Animal Adventurer’s Guide: How to Prowl for Owls, Make Snail Slime, and Catch a Frog Bare-Handed, was recognized with a National Parenting Products Award. Her new book Forest Magic for Kids: How to Find for Fairies, Make a Secret Fort, and Cook Up an Elfin Picnic is filled with activities inspired by imagination, folklore, and science and an invitation to all readers to step outside and discover the beauty and magic of the world.