Writer and environmentalist Brooke Williams will read from his new memoir, Open Midnight: Where Ancestors and Wilderness Meet, at Elk River Books on Tuesday, July 18.
The book weaves together parallel stories of Williams’ year alone “ground truthing backcountry maps of southern Utah, and that of his great-great-great-grandfather who, in 1863, made his way with a group of Mormons from England across the ocean to the American West. Williams intertwines ancestry, immigration, and identity with observations on philosophy, evolution, and our dependence on wilderness.”
Williams, husband of naturalist/author Terry Tempest Williams, has worked for conservation organizations including The Murie Center and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. He’s the author of Halflives: Reconciling Work and Wilderness, and an interpretive edition of Richard Jeffries 19th century volume of nature essays, The Story of My Heart (co-authored with Tempest Williams). In 2016, the couple made national news by purchasing oil and gas leases at a federal auction with the intent of leaving the earth intact, bringing attention to the issue of climate change.
Rick Bass says, “Open Midnight is a great and honest account. Brooke Williams is one of southern Utah’s most powerful defenders.” The Deseret News writes, “Williams’ prose is magnificent — lyrical, evocative and encompassing. Readers will see clearly the wild beauty of southern Utah and be reminded of the spiritual nourishment that only comes through nature. Open Midnight is an expanding experience, one that will change forever how readers see life, death and those who have gone before us.”
The free event begins at 7 p.m. upstairs at Elk River Books, 120 N. Main St. in Livingston, and will be followed by a book signing and reception. For more information, call 333-2330.
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