After writing twelve books over a period of forty years, I said I was finished. However, my life and the life around me has changed and I felt it time to offer to people pages from my own personal nature journals which have been my guides and deep sources for both learning and solace since I began writing books, back in l978. I decided to publish a book that is not instructive or text heavy. Beginning with the Winter Solstice and going through the twelve months of the year, I have chosen one hundred twenty-two pages from my own illustrated/hand written journals of the last three years revealing my reflections, doubts, joys, responses to both family, political, environmental worries and the deep solace I continually find going out into my local nature. As both urban and rural naturalist, educator, wife, mother, grandmother, I open my journal pages as they are personal yet universal to all of us as we question our own lives in balance with the ongoing and continual cycles of nature’s seasons.
Praise for the work of Clare Walker Leslie
“Clare Walker Leslie’s newest book presents us with a beautiful expression of an intimate relationship with the natural world, encouraging us to live with more wisdom, kindness, and an art of clear seeing.” —Larry Rosenberg, Founder and Guiding Teacher at Cambridge Insight Meditation Center
“Naturalist and artist, and great friend at Mount Auburn, Clare Walker Leslie takes readers on a journey of self-reflection in everyday nature. Clare’s frequent visits to Mount Auburn, alone or accompanied by her granddaughters, highlight the cemetery as a place to observe the constant change of the landscape and its urban wildlife, to slow down and reconnect, and to contemplate the realities of time, space, life and death. It gives me great pleasure to recommend A Year in Nature.”—David Barnett, President and CEO of Mount Auburn Cemetery
“Through her books, Clare has spent her career helping us all to see and understand the wonders of nature better, no matter where we live. A Year in Nature is a book to savor throughout the year, to use as a prompt to slow down just enough to really notice what is living right beside us, as a moment of solace in our otherwise busy lives.” —Dale Szczeblowski, Senior Buyer for Porter Square Books, Inc.
“Clare has poured her endlessly creative spirit into this beautiful book. A Year in Nature is a visual meditation. Savor her images, read her thoughtful comments, absorb her wisdom. Clare offers here nature’s myriad gifts to inspire and heal us.” —Olivia Hoblitzelle, Dharma teacher and author of Aging With Wisdom
“Longtime friend, Clare Walker Leslie has once again produced a classic work of nature journaling, using her unpretentious sketchbook style to showcase the healing powers of the natural world to a broad readership.” —Christopher Leahy, Bertrand Chair of Natural History and Field Ornithology (Emeritus) at Mass Audubon
“Clare’s great talents as an artist, writer, teacher, and lover of nature come together in these beautifully illustrated journal entries. A lovely book (and perhaps her most personal) offers solace and comfort to any of us whose hearts have ever ached.” —Sarah B. Laughlin, a founder of the Vermont Institute of Natural Science
“A Year in Nature embodies the core of Clare’s teachings: how drawing nature and drawing on nature creates a connection that nourishes and renews. Clare’s most recent book models this engagement, showing us the way by sharing her years of a personal practice.” —Diane Baker, student of Clare’s
Book Review
Clare Walker Leslie is an internationally known author, wildlife artist, and educator. For many years, she has been connecting people of all ages to their local nature using drawing, writing, and direct observation outdoors. Her twelve books include: Nature Drawing: A Tool for Learning, Keeping A Nature Journal, Drawn to Nature, and The Curious Nature Guide. Clare lives with her family in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Granville, Vermont.
Her work can be found at: ClareWalkerLeslie.com.
SPECS
A Year in Nature: A Memoir of Solace
by Clare Walker Leslie
Paperback Original
130 pages | 8.5 x 11
Full-color illustrations & hand-written text throughout
Price: $24.95
ISBN: 978-1-7336534-3-5
Pub Date: April 2020
Distributor: Midpoint Trade / IPG; also available through Baker & Taylor, Ingram, and other wholesalers.
Individuals can order via Indiebound.org, online, or contact your local, independent bookstore.
Booksellers, libraries, colleges/universities, gift shops, etc., can order through IPG:
Independent Publishers Group
814 N. Franklin Street
Chicago, IL 60610
Order Placement: (800) 888-4741
Rights sold: All rights available.
Rights & publicity contact Dede Cummings, publisher: dede@greenwriterspress.com