New Books
January 6, 2025
Dear Empty Bowl friends,
We hope this finds you well in the new year as the days begin to grow longer, the earth making her journey back toward the sun.
We’re happy to announce that we have two new books releasing this month:
Through the spring and summer of 1932, a cohort of four questing souls made its way north to Alaska aboard the thirty-three-foot cabin cruiser Grampus. Pioneering intertidal ecologist Ed Ricketts needed fifteen thousand tiny jellyfish Gonionemus for his biological supply lab; unemployed scholar Joseph Campbell sought philosophical direction and a clue to his future; early environmentalists Jack Calvin and his Russian-Tlingit partner Sasha Kashevaroff wanted to live free on a homestead in wild Alaska. From his home on the shores of Humboldt Bay, poet and writer Jerry Martien revisits this epic voyage, drawing its collaborative lessons into a field he calls biopoetics, seeing the roots of his own generation’s journey and a chart for future voyagers. $16
Jerry Martien will be celebrating with a book launch/reading at Northtown Books in Arcata, CA, on January 10 at 6 p.m. We’re lining up other readings in California and will keep you informed—we’re working on a reading in the Northwest this spring.
In Apprentice to the Wild, long-time wilderness guide and meditation teacher Kurt Hoelting charts the evolution of his path from his early encounters with wildness and risk on commercial fishing vessels in Alaska to his embrace of Zen practice as a gateway to the wild within. Inspired by the words and friendship of Gary Snyder, Hoelting founded Inside Passages, guiding mindfulness-based kayaking expeditions in Alaska focused on how the “practice of the wild” informs both our inner and outer landscapes. In the book’s later essays, he shares his path toward healing following the deaths of his two sons and explores what it means to become an elder in these uncertain times. $20
We hope you can join us at one of the upcoming readings:
Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, 3 - 5 p.m. Book Launch/Reading/Celebration
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Whidbey Island, 20103 State Route 525, Freeland, WA.
Sunday, Feb. 15 4 - 5:30 p.m. Reading & Conversation with Tele Aadsen
The Friends Meeting House, 1841 Sheridan St., Port Townsend, WA
Be sure to check the EB events page for other readings being planned.
What’s ahead
We’re excited to announce forthcoming poetry collections by two poets whose work we’ve long admired:
Ann Spiers, Wild Cucumber
Ed Harkness, Creek Water: New & Selected Poems
You’ll hear more about both books in the months ahead.
At the end of March, Empty Bowl will be heading down to Los Angeles for the AWP Conference and Bookfair. If you happen to be attending, we hope you’ll look for us at booth 1039.
Best wishes,
Holly and John