Join us for an exclusive Rumpus Book Club conversation with Sabrina Imbler for their essay collection How Far The Light Reaches led by Rumpus Editor in Chief Alysia Li Ying Sawchyn.

A queer, mixed race writer working in a largely white, male field, science and conservation journalist Sabrina Imbler has always been drawn to the mystery of life in the sea, and particularly to creatures living in hostile or remote environments. Each essay in their debut collection, How Far the Light Reaches, profiles one such creature, including:

the mother octopus who starves herself while watching over her eggs,

the Chinese sturgeon whose migration route has been decimated by pollution and dams,

the bizarre, predatory Bobbitt worm (named after Lorena),

the common goldfish that flourishes in the wild,

Imbler discovers that some of the most radical models of family, community, and care can be found in the sea, from gelatinous chains that are both individual organisms and colonies of clones to deep-sea crabs that have no need for the sun, nourished instead by the chemicals and heat throbbing from the core of the Earth. Exploring themes of adaptation, survival, sexuality, and care, and weaving the wonders of marine biology with stories of their own family, relationships, and coming of age, How Far the Light Reaches is a shimmering, otherworldly debut that attunes us to new visions of our world and its miracles.

Sabrina Imbler is currently a staff writer at Defector, an employee-owned sports and culture website, where they cover creatures.

December Book Club Presents Sabrina Imbler, author of How Far the Light Reaches