Paulina Springs Books will host acclaimed author Robert Macfarlane for a
special event on Wednesday, June 3, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at The Belfry. The evening will
feature Macfarlane in conversation with Oregon Poet Laureate Ellen Waterston discussing his newest book, The Book of Birds, and the paperback release of Is a River Alive?. The evening will
bring together two celebrated voices for a wide-ranging discussion on literature, landscape,
birds, rivers, and the living world.
Macfarlane is internationally admired for writing that illuminates the deep relationships among
language, place, memory, and the natural world. His work has inspired readers across
disciplines, from literature and conservation to walking, art, and ecology, making this a rare
opportunity for Central Oregon audiences to hear from one of the defining nature writers of his
generation.
The Book of Birds is a field guide with a difference: It shows readers not just how to identify
birds, but also how to identify with them. Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris conjure the
unique spirit of nearly fifty once-common species: avocet to yellowhammer, kestrel to
kingfisher, skylark to nightingale. In lyrical and incantatory essays, Macfarlane describes each
bird’s habits and habitats, their patterns of flight and patterns of song, how they hunt or fish or
scavenge or gather, how they nest and raise their chicks, the myths that attend them, the threats
that shadow them—and how their lives intersect with our own. On every page we encounter
Morris’s exhilarating artwork, painted from life in watercolor and gold leaf, and animated with
an extraordinary attention to detail. The Book of Birds is a love letter to the thrilling variety and
mysteries of birdlife, and a clarion call to halt the rapid depletion of our skies.
Following the discussion, guests will have the opportunity to continue the evening with an
intimate dinner among the stacks at Paulina Springs Books. Seating is extremely limited for this
post-event gathering, which offers guests the chance to dine alongside Robert Macfarlane and
Ellen Waterston in the bookstore. The dinner menu is developed in collaboration with Chef
Jackson Higdon and is inspired by themes and imagery from Macfarlane’s work.
Event tickets are $35 and include a pre-signed copy of The Book of Birds. Ticket holders have
the option of purchasing one $15 guest ticket. Dinner tickets are $125 and include a four-course
chef’s dinner and a beverage.
Tickets, dinner information, and menu details are available at PaulinaSpringsBooks.com.
About the authors:
Robert Macfarlane’s best-selling books include Underland, The Old Ways, and Mountains of the
Mind. With the artist Jackie Morris he is the coauthor of The Lost Words, The Lost Spells, and
The Book of Birds. He is the recipient of the E. M. Forster Prize for Literature and the Henry
David Thoreau Prize for Literary Excellence and is a fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
In 2024, Ellen Waterston was named to a two-year term as the eleventh Poet Laureate of Oregon
and has so far visited twenty-two out of thirty-six counties across Oregon’s 96,000 square miles.
Ellen has dedicated herself to writing and advocating for the literary arts in the high desert
region of Oregon, all the while continuing to write poetry and nonfiction works that have
evolved into essential reading about Oregon and the West. As an award-winning high desert
author and poet Waterston has published five poetry and four literary nonfiction titles,
including, most recently, As Far as I Can Anthem, Poems (2026), We Could Die Doing This
(2024), and Walking the High Desert (2020). She has received the Soapstone Bread and Roses
Award, the Stewart H Holbrook Award, an honorary PhD in the Humane Letters from OSU
Cascades.
This story is based on submitted information and has not been verified by our news team.
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