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"What does it mean to bring life into a trembling world? What does it mean to bless existence without denying its terror?" These questions animated the writing of Azita Ardakani Walton's beautiful children’s book, Ocean of Stars. It is a story of life’s beginnings. And it was a joy to sit with Azita, together with the wise and renowned botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer, and dive deep into why such an offering is not merely serious and relevant but essential and urgent — even and especially in a time like ours. Like every good children's book, Ocean of Stars speaks to the mind and heart of the adult as well as the child. But children, Azita has written, “may be the last among us who still understand that a creation story is not a primitive explanation for what adults now know better. It is a way of staying tender before the facts. The facts are strange enough ... To say that water remembers the stars is not only poetry. It is also a way of listening to chemistry.”
This conversation unfolded at the New York Public Library.
Find an excellent transcript, edited by humans, on our show page.
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Azita Ardakani Walton is a writer, nature-based researcher, and creative strategist. Drawing on the wisdom of living systems, she explores the relationship between the inner life and the natural world and how we might reimagine the ways we live, create, and care for one another. She is the founder of Kindred. Ocean of Stars is her debut picture book.
Robin Wall Kimmerer is a scientist, professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Her books include the children’s book, Bud Finds Her Gift, as well as The Serviceberry and Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Learn more about her work, including Plant Baby Plant, at Robinwallkimmer.com and plantbabyplant.com
You can listen to Krista's previous conversation with them in your podcast feed or at OnBeing.org: The Intelligence of Plants, with Robin Wall Kimmerer, and On Nature’s Wisdom for Humanity, with Azita together with biomimicry founder Janine Benyus.
Special thanks for this show to Claudia Bedrick and Enchanted Lion Books, the Kindred Team, and Humbleriot, which produced the New York Public Library event.
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