A Conversation with Wendell Berry
Sunday, 15 Apr 2007 at 7:00 pm – Great Hall, Memorial Union
Poet, essayist, farmer, and novelist Wendell Berry will be joined by daughter Mary Berry Smith and area farmers to discuss the changing landscape of American agriculture and its relationship to local economies and rural life. Berry, who has taught English at New York University and at the University of Kentucky, lives on a farm just five miles from his birthplace in northern Kentucky. He is celebrated not only as a writer but as a philosopher, ethicist, and conservationist. Mary Berry Smith lives in north-central Kentucky, not far from her father, on a traditional cattle and tobacco farm. She has diversified her operation to include grape growing and wine-making in the centuries-old tradition of family farms in Europe. This lecture commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. It is also the 2007 Shivvers Memorial Lecture, in memory of John Shivvers, who farmed near Knoxville, Iowa.Cosponsored By:
- Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture
- The Gamma Sigma Delta Hon. Society for Agriculture
- Committee on Lectures (funded by Student Government)
Stay for the entire event, including the brief question-and-answer session that follows the formal presentation. Most events run 75 minutes.
Sign-ins are after the event concludes. For lectures in the Memorial Union, go to the information desk in the Main Lounge. In other academic buildings, look for signage outside the auditorium.
Lecture Etiquette
- Stay for the entire lecture and the brief audience Q&A. If a student needs to leave early, he or she should sit near the back and exit discreetly.
- Do not bring food or uncovered drinks into the lecture.
- Check with Lectures staff before taking photographs or recording any portion of the event. There are often restrictions. Cell phones, tablets and laptops may be used to take notes or for class assignments.
- Keep questions or comments brief and concise to allow as many as possible.