In recognition of National Wilderness Month, Princeton Public Library is providing two opportunities in September to spend time walking through local green spaces while discussing two engaging readings about nature, wildness, and wilderness. 

On Saturday, September 10 at 11 a.m., David LaMotte, former Chair of English at Princeton Day School, leads a walk and discussion of Gary Snyder’s The Practice of the Wild at the St. Michael’s Preserve trailhead on Princeton Avenue in Hopewell. For nearly 60 years, Snyder — Beat poet, Zen Buddhist, and “naturalist of [his] own species” — has been writing poems and essays that challenge us to ground ourselves in wildness and in the watersheds where we live and walk. This discussion will explore Snyder’s idea of practicing wildness, particularly as it applies to our local watershed.

On Saturday, September 24 at 11 a.m., Liz Cutler, sustainability coordinator and longtime English teacher of nature and literature at Princeton Day School, will lead a walk followed by a discussion of Edward Abbey’s book of essays Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness. The book is based on his time as a park ranger in Arches National Monument in Utah and explores the relationship between wilderness and civilization. The discussion will explore Abbey’s idea that “we need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it.” Special focus will be on his essay “Down the River.” The walk and discussion will be in the Institute Woods, and participants will meet at the Quaker Friends Meeting House on Mercer Street in Princeton. Participants are encouraged to bring their own lawn chair.

For more information, call (609) 924-9529 or visit www.princetonlibrary.org.

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