Launched!

Celebration!

It was a terrific afternoon and early evening with many participants and helpers, good food from HoneyBeeFed, a gorgeously artistic arrangement of the appetizers table, and the inky-colored Inkling cocktail served in Wild Ink logo glasses, and wine from Cardinal Point.

Art and Natural History Display

I was lucky to have an artist and art teacher friend turn her hand to creating the old-timey ambiance of the art display/museum in the back corner of Rapunzel’s Coffee and Books, showcasing the “Species of Influence” on the book. Photos and drawings, braided wall hangings, and a mobile of deer bones, field guides, and several curio cabinets of everything from fungi to mosses, all depicted the plants and animals that populate the poems.

The display included several pieces of embroidery and collage created specifically for the exhibit, and lamps and shelves made from local found and scrap wood by Scrounge Around Woodworking. Thanks to the manager of Rapunzel’s for letting us haul in all this stuff and display it and for all her work re-arranging the space to suit the event perfectly!!

Salon Panel

I had so much fun on stage with my two panelists, who brought the depth of their respective backgrounds in environmental education and poetics to a lively discussion of the themes and structure of the book.

In these thanks you’ll notice I’m not naming names and that’s because of a) privacy issues with the public-facing web, and b) there would be a huge block of text filled with dozens of names.

Community

It takes a community to launch a book, including all the members of the critique group that once met regularly at Rapunzel’s, and who continue to meet online, and whose original founder was able to make it to the launch! An entire series of photos that capture the joyous feel of the event, taken by local photographer Norm Carter, are on Facebook at the link above. Check them out!