Gary Snyder to Speak on February 21

Gary Snyder, Poet, Essayist and Environmental Activist to Speak at POST’s Wallace Stegner Lectures

A Deep Connection to the Natural World Inspires His Life’s Work

(Palo Alto, Calif.) — Gary Snyder, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, essayist and environmentalist will speak in the 2017 Wallace Stegner Lecture series.  On February 21, the San Francisco native will discuss his life as a scholar, writer and environmentalist, as well as how a deep connection to the natural world inspires his work. The lecture starts at 8 PM at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased at openspacetrust.org/wsls-2017.

Born in 1930, Snyder has published more than a dozen collections of poetry and is well known for his Beat Movement writings. He was the subject for the character Japhy Ryder in Jack Kerouac’s 1958 novel Dharma Bums. His book, Practice of the Wild, is regarded by many as one of the most influential environmental books of the last fifty years. Snyder has studied Buddhism extensively and his deeply contemplative essays and poems often reflect the spiritual side of nature, wilderness and the interaction of human culture.

Snyder first became interested in the natural world after moving to Portland, Oregon as a child. He learned mountain climbing as a teen spent a number of summers working outdoor jobs such as a timber scaler, a fire lookout, a logger and a seaman. As a student at the University of California, Berkeley he studied Asian cultures and languages, learning both Chinese and Japanese. These unique life experiences and interests have long influenced his perspectives and his writing.

Snyder will tell stories of his travels, his life as a resident of California, and discuss the importance of cultivating a relationship with the natural world. His talk is part of the 2017 Wallace Stegner Lecture Series. Chris and Carol Espinosa, and Pie Ranch, are sponsoring the evening. Mark Bittman, author of 14 books, journalist and former New York Times columnist on Policy, Agriculture, Health and the Environment, will close out the series on March 21.

POST’s Wallace Stegner Lectures, now in its 25^th year, celebrates the conservation legacy of the late writer and environmentalist Wallace Stegner, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, Stanford University professor and protector of the West’s wild places. This year’s lectures share the common theme of Drawing Inspiration from Nature, which ties closely to POST’s mission of protecting open space in and around Silicon Valley.

The late Ambassador Laurence W. Bill Lane and his wife, Jean, have sponsored the Wallace Stegner Lectures since its inception in 1993. Jean continues this tradition of sponsorship in memory of Bill, who passed away in 2010. Media sponsorship is provided by Embarcadero Media, publisher of Palo Alto Weekly, Mountain View Voice, The Almanac and Palo Alto Online.

###

POST is a leading private, nonprofit land trust that protects and cares for open space, farms and parkland in and around Silicon Valley. Since its founding in 1977, POST has been responsible for saving more than 75,500 acres as permanent open space and parkland in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties. www.openspacetrust.org