Terry Tempest Williams discusses "When Women Were Birds"

The beloved author of Refuge returns with a work that explodes and startles, illuminates and celebrates.

“The
writing of Terry Tempest Williams is brilliant, meditative, and full of
surprises, wisdom, and wonder. She’s one of those writers who changes
peoples’ lives by encouraging attention and a slow, patient
awakening.”--Anne Lamott, author of Help, Thanks, Wow

Readers of Williams’s iconic and unconventional memoir, Refuge,
well remember Terry Tempest Williams’ mother. She was one of a large
Mormon clan in northern Utah who developed cancer as a result of the
nuclear testing in nearby Nevada. It was a shock to Williams to discover
that her mother had kept journals. But not as much of a shock as what
she found when the time came to read them.  In When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice (available in paperback, March 5, 2013), Terry Tempest Williams tells what she discovered in those books:



“They
were exactly where she said they would be: three shelves of beautiful
cloth-bound books...  I opened the first journal. It was empty. I opened
the second journal. It was empty. I opened the third. It too was
empty... Shelf after shelf after shelf, all of my mother’s journals were
blank.”



In
fifty-four chapters that unfold like a series of yoga poses, each with
its own logic and beauty, Williams creates a lyrical and caring
meditation of the mystery of her mother's journals. When Women Were Birds is a kaleidoscope that keeps turning around the question “What does it mean to have a voice?”

“Here,
readers get a Terry Tempest Williams who is at the top of her game, the
master of her craft . . . a gift from a writer who knows how to split
the world open.”--Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild

This event will be held in the Weyerhaeuser Chapel, on the campus of Macalester College.



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Terry Tempest Williams is the award-winning author of fourteen books, including Leap, An Unspoken Hunger, Refuge, and Finding Beauty in a Broken World. She divides her time between Castle Valley, Utah, and Moose, Wyoming.

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A performance of Wild Mercy, by Emmy Award-winning St Paul composer Steve Heitzeg, will kick off this spring’s reading by Terry Tempest Williams.



Steve Heitzeg’s Wild Mercy--a
setting of Terry Tempest Williams’ poem of the same name, written in
honor of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge--is the third movement from
his song cycle Wild Songs for soprano and two percussionists. Wild Songs
was commissioned by The Schubert Club in honor of its 125th
anniversary, as part of the Wild Music Exhibition at the Science Museum
of Minnesota in 2007.  



Scored for soprano, Yupik frame drum and two Beluga whale jawbones, the austere Wild Mercy
is a plea to preserve the ANWR and nature.  The instruments used are
from that region, including two Beluga whale jawbones from a stranded
whale which are on loan from the National Oceanic Atmospheric
Administration and the National Marine Fisheries Service.



“It
is an honor to set these powerful and prophetic words of Terry Tempest
Williams to music,” says Heitzeg.  “Her vision and commitment to the
environment is inspiring.”



Performing Wild Mercy will be the acclaimed soprano Polly Butler Cornelius, and renowned percussionists Heather Barringer and Erik Barsness.

Polly Butler Cornelius teaches
at Elon University in North Carolina.  She is no stranger to the
international stage and performs frequently in Italy and at major venues
across the U.S.  She is in demand as a soloist for opera, oratorio and
song recital, where she specializes in new music by living composers.

Heather Barringer is an innovative percussionist and artistic co-director of the groundbreaking new music ensemble Zeitgeist.  

Erik Barsness is a prolific percussionist and co-director of the contemporary music group Ensemble 61.

Emmy
Award-winning composer Steve Heitzeg is recognized for his evocative
and lyrical scores written in support of social and environmental
justice issues. His music is performed by leading orchestras and
ensembles, and conductors from Marin Alsop to Osmo Vänskä have conducted
his works. Heitzeg has set other works of Terry Tempest Williams
including most recently her I Pray to the Birds,
commissioned by Beth and Nate Kellar Long and premiered by the
Minnesota Chorale (Kathy Saltzman Romey, Artistic Director) in 2010.