Georgia Hall of Fame writer Janisse Ray to speak at Writers Museum
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From staff reports
Janisse Ray has a heart the size of a manatee and the tenacity (and laugh) of a pileated woodpecker. She is incapable of not loving this world and all that is in it. If you don’t know her work, today is your lucky day. — Rick Bass, author of “For a Little While”
EATONTON — Officials with the Georgia Writers Museum announced recently a return engagement of Georgia Writers Hall of Fame member Janisse Ray, at its “Meet the Author” event to be held live (and on Zoom) on Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. Admission is free.
Ray will speak about her just-released book, “Wild Spectacle: Seeking Wonders in a World Beyond Humans.” From overwintering with monarch butterflies in Mexico to counting birds in Belize, the stories in “Wild Spectacle” capture her luckiest moments — ones of heart-pounding amazement, discovery of romance, and moving toward living more wisely. Anchored firmly in two places Ray has called home — Montana and southern Georgia — the 16 essays in her new book span a landscape from Alaska to Central America, connecting common elements in the ecosystems of people and place.
Ray is a naturalist, poet, and essayist. She combines lyrical passion and scientific precision in her writings, in which she serves as an advocate on behalf of the wilderness, the people, and the wildlife that fill her experience of the world. Since her acclaimed debut memoir, “Ecology of a Cracker Childhood,” (1999), Ray’s writing has received numerous regional and national awards.
She has won a Southern Booksellers Award for Poetry (2011), Southeastern Booksellers Award for Nonfiction (1999), an American Book Award (2000), the Southern Environmental Law Center 2000 Award for Outstanding Writing, and a Southern Book Critics Circle Award (2000). She was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2015.
Ray is famous for her wit, warmth and wisdom. Born in rural Appling County, she attended high school in Baxley and went to North Georgia College in Dahlonega before transferring to Florida State University, where she earned a degree in English. She then worked as an organic farmer in north Florida and later earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Montana’s creative writing workshop, where her poetry chapbook, “Naming the Unseen,” won the 1996 Merriam-Frontier Award.
Contact Georgia Writers Museum for reservations to the Meet the Author event or visit www.georgiawritersmuseum.org.
Georgia Writers Museum is dedicated to inspiring today’s writers and readers and celebrating Georgia’s literary heritage by exploring the history and life stories of local writers Alice Walker (“The Color Purple”), Flannery O’Connor (“A Good Man is Hard to Find”), and Joel Chandler Harris (“Brer Rabbit Folktales”), along with others in the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame. Currently, small group tours are available by appointment. Admission to the museum is free; the museum relies on donations from guests and supporters to deliver quality programming, exhibits and classes. To learn more, visit www.georgiawritersmuseum.com, Facebook: georgiawritersmuseum, and Instagram: georgiawritersmuseum8.
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