Mr. Wendell Berry of Kentucky

Wendell Berry in PA on May 18

The nonprofit Foundation for Sustainable Forests is hosting a forestry conference this month featuring Wendell Berry.

"A Conversation with Wendell Berry" will open the event May 18 at 7 p.m. at Allegheny College in Meadville.

 

via www.goerie.com

On Wendell Berry's Jefferson Lecture

At a time that has followed crises in the global economy, unrest in society, and deterioration in the world's ecosystems, the National Endowment for the Humanities could not have picked a more potent speaker than Wendell Berry for this year's Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities. The essayist, novelist, and poet—a Kentuckian long known for his advocacy for family farming, community relationships, and sustainability—delivered a characteristically eloquent yet scathing critique of the industrial economy and its toll on humanity in his remarks here on Monday.

"The two great aims of industrialism—replacement of people by technology and concentration of wealth into the hands of a small plutocracy—seem close to fulfillment," Mr. Berry said. "At the same time the failures of industrialism have become too great and too dangerous to deny. Corporate industrialism itself has exposed the falsehood that it ever was inevitable or that it ever has given precedence to the common good."

via chronicle.com

SEE ALSO

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Tom Eblen (Kentucky.com)

Matthew J. Franck (First Things)

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Rod Dreher (American Conservative)

James V. Schall (Crisis Magazine)

Christopher Shannon (Crisis Magazine)

John K. Herr (BREITBART)

And Don't Forget: Wendell Berry in Conversation at the Washington National Cathedral on Sunday

Internationally acclaimed man of letters and creation-care activist Wendell Berry speaks with special guest and fellow Kentuckian Dr. Matthew Sleeth about the importance of caring for the natural world. Berry was named the 2012 Jefferson Lecturer, the federal government’s most distinguished recognition of intellectual achievement in the humanities.

via www.nationalcathedral.org

Don't Forget: Mr. Wendell Berry Goes to Washington on Monday

Wendell E. Berry, noted poet, essayist, novelist, farmer, and conservationist, will deliver the 2012 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities on Monday, April 23, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

The annual lecture, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is the most prestigious honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities.

Described as a “21-st century Henry David Thoreau,” Wendell Berry has spent his career meditating on our relationship and responsibility to the land and community. He is the author of more than forty books of poems, essays, short stories, and novels, many of which draw on the traditional rural values of Berry’s native Kentucky.  Read more about Wendell Berry and the Jefferson Lecture here.

via www.neh.gov

A Conversation with Wendell Berry, Northwestern PA, May 18, 2012

Purcellville, VA. Readers near Meadville, PA won’t want to miss Loving the Land through Working Forests, a conference hosted by the Foundation for Sustainable Forests (FFSF). The lecture and forestry seminar will feature Mr. Wendell Berry, along with guest speakers from Audubon PA, Audubon VT, the Healing Forests Foundation, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, and Penn State.

Friday, May 18th: Vukovich Center Theatre, Allegheny College

 7:00 p.m., A Conversation with Wendell Berry, Renowned Author and Sustainable Communities Advocate

 

via www.frontporchrepublic.com

Blog Watch: "An afternoon with Wendell Berry"

I've written about Wendell Berry before. This past Saturday I was able to see him for the first time. There's something rather fascinating about stepping into a small town along the Ohio River, where the community has a yearly book club. Can you imagine walking to get the mail and asking your neighbor, "Have you read the book yet?" Or asking fellow parishioners, the grocery store clerk or the mailman?

So, this is the small town community I traveled to for this particular event -- a book club with the author.

Wendell Berry, with his sparkling blue eyes, incredible wisdom concerning the reality of our world and his dose of hope amidst the craziness of modernity addressed us all in the public library. (If they had more people than the room could hold, arrangements had already been made for all present to walk a few feet to the church, which could accommodate more.) And with his 77 years of experience of living, Mr. Berry proceeded to share some thoughts, many instigated by questions from the audience.

 

via unshakeablehope.blogspot.com

Click the via link to read more and several comments by Mr. Berry from this occasion.

Blog Watch: Anticipation builds for "Wendell Berry and Washington, DC"

So, you know April is National Poetry Month.  But did you also know April is the month Wendell Berry will give the Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities in DC?  And did you also know that I have tickets?  I'm working feverishly to make the schedule and the work stuff and the family and the money shake down because I am committed to getting myself to this monumental event in the life of one of my heroes.  If you live in DC, give me a shout!  I'll be there the 23rd of April.

via wordyevidenceofthefact.blogspot.com

I note that this is not me (Br. Tom). While I will be in DC in June, I won't be there in April and will have to experience Mr. Berry's talk through the lenses of other, more fortunate folk.

Wendell Berry in conversation at National Cathedral, April 22

Matthew Sleeth will deliver the sermon at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. at 8:45 and 11:15 a.m. April 22. At 10:15 a.m., he will be among those launching the new Seminary Stewardship Alliance. He will then host a conversation with Kentucky poet and farmer Wendell Berry on why the church should take a leading role in environmental conservation. The events will be streamed on the Blessed Earth site and at the National Cathedral site, Nationalcathedral.org

via www.kentucky.com

For more information see the National Cathedral site HERE.

"Wendell Berry to receive Tulsa library's Helmerich award"

 

He's either a leftist or a right-wing extremist, a liberal revolutionary or a retrograde conservative.

"I've been called a communist and a fascist," admits Wendell Berry. "But I'm glad to avoid all of the pigeonholes."

A farmer, a poet, an essayist and an activist - not to mention a thoroughly nice guy - he simply transcends the political spectrum, challenging conventional wisdom even as he appeals to age-old customs.

The author of more than 50 published works, Berry will receive this year's Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award from the Tulsa Library Trust.

via www.tulsaworld.com

"To receive the Distinguished Author Award, Berry will come to Tulsa for a black-tie dinner Dec. 7, followed by a free public appearance at 10:30 a.m., Dec. 8, at the Central Library."

Read more at www.tulsaworld.com

More on Wendell Berry at Samford U

Wendell Berry thought for a moment and cleared his throat. Then he said this (much more eloquently than I will relate it here, of course): “I think there’s a fundamental flaw in the way the discussion is framed. For one, if all the immigrants left, our agricultural system would collapse; they provide almost all of the labor. In a sense, we owe them more than they owe us.”

Here the audience clapped enthusiastically. Berry, seeming unimpressed by the praise he had no doubt received countless times before, continued: “What we need to remember is that they are human beings too. We share that with them. We’ve decided that we won’t do our own manual labor because we’re above it, and they’ve filled in the gaps we’ve left.”

via samfordcrimson.com