Please join Porter Square Books for a virtual event with Aimee Nezhukumatathil in conversation with Hanif Abdurraqib for her new book, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments! This event is free and open to all, and is hosted on Crowdcast.

From beloved, award-winning poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil comes a debut work of nonfiction--a collection of essays about the natural world, and the way its inhabitants can teach, support, and inspire us, gorgeously illustrated by Fumi Nakamura.

As a child, Nezhukumatathil called many places home: the grounds of a Kansas mental institution, where her Filipina mother was a doctor; the open skies and tall mountains of Arizona, where she hiked with her Indian father; and the chillier climes of western New York and Ohio. But no matter where she was transplanted--no matter how awkward the fit or forbidding the landscape--she was able to turn to our world's fierce and funny creatures for guidance.

"What the peacock can do," she tells us, "is remind you of a home you will run away from and run back to all your life." The axolotl teaches us to smile, even in the face of unkindness; the touch-me-not plant shows us how to shake off unwanted advances; the narwhal demonstrates how to survive in hostile environments. For it is this way with wonder: it requires that we are curious enough to look past the distractions in order to fully appreciate the world's gifts.

Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of four collections of poems, including, most recently, Oceanic, winner of the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award. She serves as poetry faculty for the Writing Workshops in Greece and is professor of English and creative writing in the University of Mississippi's MFA program.

Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist. and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. His second collection of poems, A Fortune For Your Disaster, was released in 2019 by Tin House.

PSB Presents: Aimee Nezhukumatathil with Hanif Abdurraqib, World of Wonders