Mr. Wendell Berry of Kentucky

Welcome

In the sidebar to your right under Content, you will find pages with links and lists related to Mr. Berry's work.

This website is not owned, operated or sanctioned by Mr. Berry, whose disapproval of computer technology is well-documented.

The one person responsible for all of this is me, Br. Tom Murphy (btwb@brtom.org). All opinions expressed within posts— outside of quoted content—are also only mine. I am not a personal friend or employee of Mr. Berry and am thus not able to arrange interviews or appearances by him.

Please note that most of the posts below will refer you to a larger article. Just click on the "via" link at the lower left side of each post.

Works: Generic lists specific essays within collections.

Comments here are welcome but moderated, so they might take a little while to appear below the post.

Consider joining the conversation at Wendell Berry's Work, an email discussion group.

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Mary Berry writes about Wendell Berry

My father’s name is Wendell Berry and I have been crazy about him for 54 years now. Wendell is married to my mother, Tanya. It is nearly impossible for me to think of one without the other.

It is hard to imagine now that until coming back to live permanently in Henry County in 1964 we had lived in Europe, California and New York City, with stays in Kentucky between those moves. We moved to Lanes Landing, where my parents live now, when I was 7 and my brother, Den, was 3. I can remember seeing the place for the first time but I can only imagine what a great satisfaction it must have been for Daddy to buy a place that he had known all his life and that his mother had loved all of her life.

Read more (and see some sweet old photos) at ediblecommunities.com

Wendell Berry and Michael Pollan audio on video

Wendell Berry cited on life ethic

This is why I would argue that protecting the environment—the very source of our life—is a pro-life concern. If we continue as we are, our children and grandchildren will live in a degraded landscape, exhausted by abuse and neglect, ruined by speculation and ignorance. We will only be able to change this if we look not to Washington, nor to technology, but to our own values and commitments.

No one has argued this case more eloquently than the farmer, poet, novelist, and essayist Wendell Berry. He is one of the few who has made a connection between abortion, war, and environmental abuse. In his 2003 essay “The Failure of War,” Berry argues against the “hopeless paradox of making peace by making war.”

via uscatholic.org

An essay on "The Weird Localism of Ralph Eugene Meatyard and Wendell Berry"

This essay examines the work of Wendell Berry (academic, poet, and farmer, who is well known for his focus on the local) and the ucanny photography of Ralph Eugene Meatyard. This essay argues that rather than simply a rehashing of the well-worn familar, or an encounter with alterity, both Berry's and Meatyard's work call neat distinctions between the familar and the strange into question. While residence tends to foster habitual perception and naturalising familiarity, Berry's and Meatyard's work suggests that increased intimacy unsettles habitual perception and reveals surprising and often monsterous aspects of familair beings and places.

The complete article is available via nla.gov.au

On Wendell Berry's conversation with Michael Pollan

Berry in his opening remarks said, “This is about discovery or a book of revelation. That’s very much the kind of book this is. Robert Frost wanted his readers to think what a hell of a good time he had writing it. And your book very much communicates that. What a hell of a good time you had writing it.” Further on, he added, “It’s an adventure book, a participatory book. There’s lots of humor.”

“Thanks for your book review,” Pollan responded. “It’s the nicest one I’ve gotten and I really do appreciate it…The reason this book is dedicated to you is because you’ve connected the dots between very ordinary things—the plate in front of us and the farm and garden systems, both natural and economic, that organize our lives. “

via gardenrant.com

Wendell Berry works to be performed May 13

The poetry of Wendell Berry hit Congregation Solel pianist Philip Orem close to home, which is why he was moved to compose a song cycle dedicated to his works.

That composition will have its world premiere at Solel in Highland Park on May 13 at 7:30 p.m.

"An Evening of American Song," which is free and open to the public, will feature the Berry song cycle as well as the premiere performance of a song cycle dedicated to the poetry of Langston Hughes.

Orem will accompany soprano Elizabeth Gray and baritone Warren Fremling, who also serves as Solel's music director.

via chicagotribune.com

Wendell Berry talks with Michael Pollan

Kentucky farmer and writer Wendell Berry interviewed food journalist Michael Pollan last night [1 May 2013] in Louisville. ... Over the course of the evening, they discussed Pollan's new book "Cooked" and the bigger issues it raises. Here are five takeaways from the interview ...

See the complete article HERE.

Hear the complete conversation HERE.

Wendell Berry supports anti-frac campaign in MN

The following letter was written by Wendell Berry, author, farmer and environmentalist, to John Heid (formerly of Winona), in support of the Catholic Worker campaign against frac sand mining.

Dear John,

You have offered me the privilege of joining by letter with you and your friends in Winona in opposition to "frac sand mining." and I am happy to accept.

I will say, first, that there is never, for any reason, a justification for doing long-term or permanent damage to the ecosphere. We did not create the world, we do not own it, and we have no right to destroy any part of it.

See the complete letter HERE.