Join us for readings from some of the writers and poets featured in Water Bodies: Love Letters to the Most Abundant Substance on Earth. Afterwards, journalist Laura Paskus will lead a brief panel discussion and Q&A from the audience.

About the Book

As the climate crisis simultaneously pinches water supplies and exacerbates flooding, some of the West’s most thoughtful journalists, poets, and writers remind us that water isn’t a natural resource to manage or a commodity to sell—nor do humans live out their lives at the scale of interstate river compacts, interbasin transfers, or 30-year projections. Rather, water is a force that’s beguiling and seductive—and a creature whose knowledge and will supersedes our own. This diverse group of contributors shares intimate stories of rivers and snow patches, swimming holes and ephemeral streams. They also explore how waters shape our landscapes and our consciousness as they consider what becomes endangered when we lose sight of the power of water.

About the Editor

Laura Paskus is a longtime reporter based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has worked for High Country News, Tribal College Journal, KUNM-FM, New Mexico Political Report, and Capital & Main, and currently, is a senior producer for NMPBS, where she hosts and produces the television show “Our Land: New Mexico’s Environmental Past, Present, and Future.” Her 2020 book, At the Precipice: New Mexico’s Changing Climate won the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award for Nature/Environment.