Great reading tonight, and rooted is here

It's arrived! Got home tonight to find my contributor's copy of ROOTED in the mailbox. ROOTED: The Best New Arboreal Nonfiction, edited by Josh MacIvor-Anderson, with an introduction by the renowned environmentalist Bill McKibben, is a beautiful collection, filled with luminaries from the world of literary essays (Brian Doyle, Steven Church, Lia Purpura, Matthew Gavin Frank, Paul Lisicky, among others), along with lesser known writers like me. The San Francisco publisher, Outpost 19, has put together a website for the book; in addition to purchasing information, there's an ongoing section for readers' writing on trees, and a supplement to the anthology with background on the essays and a compilation of writing prompts from the contributors (me included).

I read my essay "Saving Trees" from the anthology tonight at the wonderful Moshin Literary  Salon at the Moshin Vineyards and Winery in Healdsburg, curated by Marcy Gordon of Writing Between the Vines (above on the right). Great audience! Great fellow readers! Loved Grace Hwang Lynch's memoir-essay (partly about a winery) and my friend Monica Nolan's novel chapter (partly about foodies in Marin).

Monica and Alia Volz and I were awarded a Writing Between the Vines writing residency at Inman Winery last spring. Grace is doing a residency this week at Moshin Winery through the same program. Applications are closed for this year, but check them out next year. It was amazingly productive, and a stunningly beautiful place.