Haystack Book Talk: How the Changing Landscape Touches Us All – Humans and Non-Humans Alike

Date: 10/01/2023
Time: 1:30 pm-2:30 pm

Carl Safina is the author of Alfie & Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe. When Safina and his wife, Patricia, took in a near-death baby owl, they expected that, like other wild orphans they’d rescued, she’d be a temporary presence. But Alfie’s feathers were not growing correctly, requiring prolonged care. And soon Carl and Patricia began to realize that the healing was mutual. Alfie & Me is the story of the remarkable impact this little owl would have on their lives. The continuing bond of trust following her freedom—and her raising of her own wild brood—drew Carl and Patricia across the boundary into Alfie’s world, allowing them a view of existence from Alfie’s perspective.

Safina’s lyrical non-fiction writing explores how humans are changing the living world, and what the changes mean for non-human beings and for us all. His work fuses scientific understanding, emotional connection, and a moral call to action. His writing has won a MacArthur “genius” prize; Pew, Guggenheim, and National Science Foundation Fellowships; book awards from Lannan, Orion, and the National Academies; and the John Burroughs, James Beard, and George Rabb medals. Safina is now the first Endowed Professor for Nature and Humanity at Stony Brook University and is founding president of the not-for-profit Safina Center.

Please visit here to register.

The annual Haystack Book Festival, a program of the Norfolk Foundation, brings together writers and thinkers to explore new ideas in literature and the arts.