ON TOUR IN AMERICA
THIS MONTH
9/11 – GREAT BARRINGTON, MA
WITH BAYO AKOMOLAFE, CATHERINE KELLER & ALEX FORRESTER
To Be Thy Adam: Agency, Activism & Collective Intelligence in the Ruins
Hosted by the Schumacher Center for a New Economics.
3pm-5pm at Saint James Place, 352 Main Street, Great Barrington.
9/12 – KINGSTON, NY
WITH tiokasin ghosthorse & aja schmeltz
A conversation hosted by David Brownstein, including audience Q&A, followed by a book-signing and mingling. The registration fee is $15 and this includes a copy of At Work in the Ruins.
6pm at the Good Work Institute, 65 St James St.
9/13 – CHICAGO BOOK LAUNCH
A free event with a talk introducing At Work in the Ruins followed by a book signing.
7pm at Pilsen Community Books, 1102 W 18th St.
9/14-15 – TWO-DAY RETREAT IN CHICAGO
WITH DR ASHLEY COLBY
This will be a co-created retreat: a chance to go deep into the questions at the heart of At Work in the Ruins, bringing your own stories, experiences and questions into dialogue with mine.
The retreat will be hosted by Dr Ashley Colby, presenter of the Doomer Optimism podcast, and will take place at the University of Chicago’s Hyde Park campus.
9/16 – TORONTO
WITH DAVID CAYLEY
The Questions Science Cannot Answer
Join me for a public conversation with David Cayley, longtime presenter of CBC’s Ideas and author of How to Think About Science and Ivan Illich: An Intellectual Journey. David was a close collaborator of Illich and their friendship led to two books, Ivan Illich in Conversation and The Rivers North of the Future.
Early on in At Work in the Ruins, I write that “Climate change asks us questions that climate science cannot answer”. In this conversation, I want to open up these questions that lie upstream of the way talk about climate is usually framed, exploring how Illich’s work can help us make sense of the trouble in which we find ourselves and the paths worth taking.
6pm at the CSI Spadina, 192 Spadina Ave.
9/17 – STATE COLLEGE, PA
First, the World Must End: Ivan Illich and the Hope in the Ruins
In this talk, I want to share some stories about my journeying in the footsteps of Ivan Illich, how this shaped my thinking about where we find ourselves and contributed to the writing of At Work in the Ruins. During the later part of his life, Illich would spend part of the year as a visiting professor at Penn State, and my visit here is arranged and hosted by Sajay Samuel and Samar Farage, friends and pupils of Illich, who I first met in Cuernavaca in 2007.
4.30pm at the SMEAL Business Building (Room 217)
Pennsylvania State University, 475 Shortlidge Road.
This is a free event and refreshments will be provided. Books will be on sale and there will be a signing following the event.
9/18 – WASHINGTON, DC
A convivial evening hosted by Elias Crim of Solidarity Hall and Pete Davis, author of Dedicated: The Case for Commitment in an Age of Infinite Browsing.
Elias and Pete are making an open invitation to anyone who wants to spend an evening together around my work. Copies of At Work in the Ruins will be available.
7pm at Johnny Pistola’s (upstairs)
2333 18th St. NW
9/20 – BOSTON, MA
WITH LEWIS HYDE
The Gifts in the Ruins
As the author of books including The Gift and Trickster Makes This World, Lewis Hyde has been a great influence on my thinking – so it’s an honour to be able to join him in a public conversation where we will explore the overlap between our thinking, not least the influence that Ivan Illich had on both of us.
This event is jointly hosted by the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. Our moderator will be Matthew Battles, editor of Arnoldia: the Nature of Trees.
6.30pm at the Unitarian Universalist Association
24 Farnsworth Street, Boston
9/22 – BURLINGTON, VT
WITH SAM BLISS & ADAM WILSON
I am coming to northern Vermont for a Sunday afternoon event that will be jointly hosted by Adam Wilson of The Peasantry School (Keeseville, NY) and Sam Bliss of Food Not Bombs (Burlington). I’m looking forward to speaking with both of them about their commitment to growing and sharing food outside of the logic of the existing economy, and the clues that this holds for the work of regrowing a living culture.
“The event has no ticket price, and no requirement to arrive hopeful. You are invited, instead, to bring heartbreak, humility, and perhaps even faithfulness – as kindling. Let’s see if we can get a fire going together.” — Adam & Sam
2pm at The Spiral House, 19 Church St., 2nd Floor.
9/23 – NEW YORK CITY
WITH M.R. O’CONNOR
What Grows in the Ashes: The Work of Hospitality in a Burning World
In this event, I’ll be in conversation with M.R. O’Connor, the author of Ignition: Lighting Fires in a Burning World which tells the story of her journey into working as a wildland firefighter and controlled burn fire-setter. It’s a book that resonates deeply with my own attempt to trace the small paths that lead beyond the project of “sustaining” existing trajectories of technological progress, economic growth and development.
In the setting of the Tisch Center of Hospitality at NYU, we will be hosted by Prof Christopher Gaffney for a conversation that explores the role of “the virtues of hospitality and conviviality” in the work that lies ahead.
6-8pm at the Tisch Center of Hospitality, 7 East 12th Street, 5th Floor
Note that registration is required for this event – and members of the general public are encouraged to arrive at least 30 minutes beforehand.
9/24 – HAVERFORD COLLEGE
WITH Suparna Choudhury & Li Sumpter
(Re)growing a Living Culture: Ecology, Arts and Survival
“In an era of ecological uncertainty and cultural crisis, how can the arts and humanities contribute to our collective survival? Join us for a dynamic conversation with Suparna Choudhury, Dougald Hine, and Li Sumpter—three thinkers and practitioners who explore the intersections of ecology, arts, and collective resilience.”
4:3o–6pm at Haverford College, VCAM 001 Screening Room.
Registration is not required for this event – but members of the general public are encouraged to arrive at least 30 minutes beforehand.
