Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of the New York Times’ bestselling book “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants,” is coming to Madison County to be the first lecturer in the new MADIdeas Lecture Series this fall.

The MADIdeas Lecture Series is a program of Cornell Cooperative Extension Madison County, in collaboration with Colgate University’s Upstate Institute. MADIdeas brings top thinkers to Madison County throughout the 2023-2024 academic year, and is open to all members of the community. The series draws on expertise from all the colleges in and around Madison County to share current research and thinking on topics like agriculture, economic vitality, ecological sustainability, social well-being, youth development, and more.

Dr. Kimmerer’s free lecture will take place on Thursday, September 7 at 6pm at the Palace Theatre in Hamilton, with a book signing following the event. Pre-registration is requested online or by calling 315-684-3001 ext 122.

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, which has earned Kimmerer wide acclaim. Her first book, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing.

Kimmerer is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, whose mission is to create programs which draw on the wisdom of both indigenous and scientific knowledge for our shared goals of sustainability. In 2022 she was named a MacArthur Fellow. As a writer and a scientist, her interests in restoration include not only restoration of ecological communities, but restoration of our relationship to land.

MADIdeas is held on the first Thursday of every month from September through May, with some limited exceptions. The lecture series is free and open to the public, and donations are always welcome. Visit www.ccemadison.org/events to view the entire slate of MADIdeas Lectures throughout the year.