An Evening with Robin Wall Kimmerer

CIIS Public Programs is honored to host Robin Wall Kimmerer, celebrated author of the bestselling books, Braiding Sweetgrass and The Serviceberry. As a mother, scientist, professor and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Robin invites us to reimagine our relationship with the natural world through the lens of reciprocity, gratitude, and respect. Her work bridges indigenous wisdom and scientific knowledge and reinforces how we can understand ecology by listening to the earth’s oldest teachers: the plants around us.  

The author of numerous scientific papers on plant ecology, bryophyte ecology, traditional knowledge and restoration ecology, Robin is dedicated not only to restoration of ecological communities but to restoration of our relationship to land. Her latest project, Plant, Baby, Plant, a response to the extractive and destructive mantra: “Drill, Baby, Drill”, is a grassroots movement that invites people to take meaningful regenerative action to care for the Earth.

Join Robin and ecologist Melissa K. Nelson for a fascinating and inspiring conversation on restoring our relationship with the living world.

This conversation includes live audience Q&A.

Meet the Speaker

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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 her wide acclaim. Her first book, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing, and her other work has appeared in Orion, Whole Terrain, and numerous scientific journals. In 2022, Braiding Sweetgrass was adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith. Robin’s newest book, The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World (November 2024), is a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world.

Robin 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. She holds a BS in Botany from SUNY ESF, an MS and PhD in Botany from the University of Wisconsin and is the author of numerous scientific papers on plant ecology, bryophyte ecology, traditional knowledge and restoration ecology. She lives on an old farm in upstate New York, tending gardens both cultivated and wild. 

Important Event Information 

About Our Venue
Formerly known as the Nourse Theater, The Sydney Goldstein Theater opened in 2013 after being closed for nearly 30 years. The theater first opened in 1926 as the auditorium for a high school, and following the school’s closure in 1952, found new life as a public performing arts venue, before closing in 1985. City Arts & Lectures founder Sydney Goldstein saw the theater in 2011 and foresaw a future for the space as the home for City Arts & Lectures; it now serves as an essential venue for City Arts & Lectures as well as for a wide variety of performances and programs. Learn more about the venue at City Arts & Lectures website. 

Accessibility 
If you need to request accessibility accommodations, please email publicprograms@ciis.edu at least one week prior to the event. For more information, explore our Accessibility web page.

Recording Policy 
Portions of this conversation will be recorded for our podcast. 

Discounted Tickets
Free and discounted tickets are available for indigenous community members. Please email publicprogram@ciis.edu for more information.

Refund Policy 
All tickets and donations for this event are nonrefundable.  

Related Academic Program

M.A. and Ph.D. in Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion