This is your invitation to join friends and neighbors to be in community with our more-than-human world and honor Earth Day throughout the month of April and beyond. I encourage you to attend nearby nature-inspired occasions and hope the highlighted books will also pique your interest. Please read on!
An Evening with Dr. Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian
Dr. Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian is the author of Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature, opens a new window. In her debut, she thoughtfully blends memoir and natural science knowledge with emphasis on the field of queer ecology. If you are a fellow nature nerd, introvert, queer person, or ally for LGBTQ2S+ people, you will be rewarded with insight. The book also honors this author's Armenian and Irish heritage. The Commons at KU is hosting Dr. Kaishian for their annual Kenneth A. Spencer Lecture on Tuesday, April 7, from 7–8:30 PM at Liberty Hall. Books will be for sale by the Raven Book Store. Reserve your ticket, opens a new window.
2nd Annual Haskell Wetlands Day
The Haskell Greenhouse, opens a new window is inviting the community to the 2nd Annual Haskell Wetlands Day on Friday, April 10, 10 AM–4 PM. Celebrate the histories, cultures, and ecologies of the Sacred Haskell Wetlands! Come and connect with local organizations and institutions that help protect and conserve the Wakarusa River Valley and our more-than-human relatives through science, artwork, writing, and more in Historical Tecumseh Hall at Haskell Indian Nations University. If you have questions, email cking@haskell.edu.
At 11 AM and 1 PM, watch "LandBack to the Future", a hyperlocal mini-documentary produced by Brendan McInerney, RVCC (Rising Voices Changing Coasts) Research Fellow, over the ongoing fight to save the Wakarusa Wetlands.
And from 2:30-4 PM, join the Haskell Land Tour with the Haskell Greenhouse crew.
Wakarusa Wetlands Celebration
The Wakarusa Wetlands Celebration is an annual event, which I am honored to collaborate and plan with Dr. Daniel Wildcat. 2026 marks our 5th year — this is a wonderful heart-fulfilling experience! Daniel Wildcat and more local authors and artists will share connections of their creative work to the wetlands, Haskell, and more of the outside world, a sense of place, and community. We encourage everyone in our community to join us outside on the beautiful campus at Haskell Indian Nations University on Saturday, April 18, 9 AM at the Medicine Wheel Earthwork; if there is inclement weather, the event will be held on April 25.
We'll begin at 9 AM with a special land recognition. As we start, I anticipate that Daniel Wildcat and Ron Brave will encourage everyone who is comfortable to walk together around the perimeter of the earthwork, then stand forming a large circle in the center of the Medicine Wheel. I expect this will include inspiring singing and drumming. Everyone not comfortable with all this walking and standing is welcome to watch from the area designated for sitting — south of the earthwork and shade trees — during the presentations from local authors and artists, which will follow.
Consider bringing a refillable water bottle and lawn chair or blanket and allow time to get to the Medicine Wheel Earthwork from the parking area. It’s a pleasant 20-minute walk, but a Land Rover will be available for mobility assistance to elders and others over the uneven ground. We recommend exploring the full details and driving directions, opens a new window on the library event page. Please join us and consider inviting friends and family.
I’m grateful to Haskell Indian Nations University, opens a new window and Raven Book Store, opens a new window for partnering with Lawrence Public Library to offer this celebration of the wetlands.
My heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Daniel Wildcat and every author and artist participating in the Wakarusa Wetlands Celebration for generously sharing about their creative work while honoring the lands we share with this more-than-human Earth! See biographical information for each presenter at the bottom of this blog post.
Haskell Wetlands Restoration Workday
Join the Haskell Greenhouse and Native Lands Restoration Collaborative for a restoration workday in the Haskell Wetlands on Saturday, April 18, 3–5 PM. We will work to remove invasive species while reintroducing native species back to this ecosystem. Please come prepared with long pants, closed-toed shoes, and a refillable water source. All tools and PPE (personal protective equipment) will be provided, but feel free to bring your own. We hope to see you out on the land with us! Meet at South Perimeter Road, opens a new window. Everyone is welcome! RSVP to NativeLandsKS@gmail.com to be informed of any schedule changes in the event of rain/snow, etc.
The City of Lawrence Earth Day Activities
The City of Lawrence hosts a webpage with many opportunities to honor Earth Day, opens a new window, including an informational fair in South Park, opens a new window.
Rewilding the Prairie Series
The Rewilding the Prairie Series includes six distinct events coordinated by fellow library colleague Jake Vail: "Keeping ecosystems healthy requires more than just setting land aside. Come learn the challenges of prairie rewilding and restoration from local biologists, ecologists, and ranchers.” More information is here, opens a new window.
Here is my wish for this Earth Month: Imagine yourself in community with Mother Earth--learning from visiting and local authors and artists, connecting with friends and neighbors at these gatherings, and being outside to deepen bonds with our nearby greater-than-human natural and relatively wild places.
Being near the Wakarusa and Kansas (Kaw) Rivers, I want to honor and acknowledge local traditional Native lands of the Dakota, Delaware (Lenape), Kansa (Kaw), Kickapoo, Lakota, Osage, Sac and Fox, Shawnee, and hundreds more tribes who find connection here with Haskell Indian Nations University. As Ken Lassman (author of Wild Douglas County, opens a new window and Kaw Valley Almanac, opens a new window) has noted: “Haskell Indian Nations University is the United Nations of tribes, with members of hundreds of tribes coming here over the lifetime of its existence."
The authors and artists presenting at the Wakarusa Wetlands Celebration
Dr. Daniel Wildcat, Yuchi Member of the Muscogee Nation, Author
Daniel R. Wildcat shares his powerful work on Indigenous scholarship and environmental advocacy locally and also globally at major conferences. He is a Distinguished professor of Haskell Indian Nations University. And a Yuchi member of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma with deep Lawrence roots. His service as teacher and administrator at Haskell Indian Nations University spans nearly four decades and counting! His latest book, On Indigenuity: Learning the Lessons of Mother Earth, opens a new window teaches we must be attentive, reconnect, and adapt with our more-than-human relatives — especially locally. Wise and hopeful, provocative philosophy centers many varieties of Indigenous wisdom, and the essays are bridged with powerful poetry.
Dr. Wildcat's latest accolades are from the UMKC Alumni Association for outstanding alumni achievements; he is the Class of 2026 Spotlight Award recipient. Read their tribute: "Honoring an Advocate for Indigenous Communities and Environmental Justice With Alumni Spotlight Award, opens a new window."
Ron Brave, Lakota Nation, Singer
Ron Brave is a generous and knowledgeable Lakota elder, an alum of Haskell Indian Nations University, and a long-time support staff member at Haskell. In this short video, opens a new window, he shares the wisdom of wamakaskan, the Lakota word for "living movement," at the start of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) training on the National Wetlands Condition Assessment for tribal environmental teams in EPA Region 7 outside of Lawrence, KS.
Alex Kimball Williams, Aleut, Author and Artist
Alex Kimball Williams (she/they) is a protest musician and community researcher working at the intersections of social and environmental justice, public policy, and grassroots methods. Her "Bad Alaskan" project reimagines traditional melodies and rhythms on contemporary synthesizers, joining together tradition with creativity. She manages a large-scale climate justice grant based at Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU) with Dr. Daniel Wildcat to support diverse Indigenous communities in taking action to protect their lifeways. And she is an alum of HINU. Alex’s album Red & Black is available on Bandcamp & SoundCloud for listening & downloading.
At the Wakarusa Wetlands Celebration, they will share poems and songs from their upcoming album, which is expected to be released this summer. It will involve the acoustic baritone ukulele & singing or speaking.
BLACK Lawrence their arts & literature collective, will host an open mic with the Lawrence Arts Center on Friday, May 1, at 7 PM.
Summer Powell, Diné, Author and Artist
Summer Powell shared these words: "Yá'át'ééh shik'èí dóó shidine'è, Shí éí Summer Powell yinishyé, Naakai Dine’é nishłį́, Na'ahiłii bashishchiin, Tsi’naajinii dashicheii, Naahiłií dashinalí. Hello, I am Summer Powell, born to the Mexican People (mother’s clan), born for Black people (father’s clan), my Cheii (maternal grandfather) is from the Black Streak Wood People, and my Nalí (paternal grandfather) is Black.
Summer is from Window Rock, AZ, the capital of the Navajo Nation, and a citizen of the Navajo (Diné) Nation. She is a PhD student and a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) in the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Kansas. Her research focus is primarily on the Diné people and women, and their ability to gain access to the Colorado River through law and policy. She previously earned her M.A. in Indigenous Studies, studying the Supreme Court case Arizona v. Navajo Nation (2023) with personal accounts of water access within the Navajo Nation at the University of Kansas. She also earned her B.A. in Indigenous and American Indian Studies at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, KS.
Summer has four sisters, Danielle, Autumn, Shawntai, and Shyla, one brother, Kenny, her mom, Charlene, and her aunt, Sandra, and her grandparents, Gladys and Dennis Blackgoat."
Mona Cliff, Aaniiih/Nakota Nations, Gros Ventre Tribe, Artist
Mona Cliff (Hanook-gah-neeh/ Spottedcloud) is an enrolled member of the Gros Ventre tribe (A'aninin/Nakota Nations) of Ft. Belknap, MT. She acquired a BFA in Printmaking from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA. Mona is a multidisciplinary visual artist who explores contemporary Indigenous identity and culture through her use of traditional Native crafting methods such as seed bead embroidery and fabric applique. She has taught beading & fabric applique workshops at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center (Snowmass Village, CO) and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (Overland Park, KS). Cliff is also a muralist and has completed multiple mural projects since 2023, five in Lawrence, KS, including two at Haskell Indian Nations University, and two in Topeka, KS. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Kansas City Museum (Kansas City, MO), Autry Museum of the American West (Los Angeles, CA), & Mulvane Art Museum (Topeka, KS). She completed commissions for the Kansas City Airport and the Spencer Museum of Art (Lawrence, KS). Mona lives with her husband, three teenagers, and two dogs in Lawrence, Kansas.
Currently Mona has solo exhibits at the University of Oklahoma (Norman, OK), the University of Central Missouri (Warrensburg, MO), and Crossroads Hotel (Kansas City, MO). She has shown at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington D.C.), Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art (Kansas City, MO), Hall Spassov Gallery (Seattle, WA), Swan Coach House gallery (Atlanta, GA), Salina Art Center (Salina, KS), Form&Concept (Santa Fe, NM), Charlotte Street (Kansas City, MO), Beach Museum of Art (Manhattan, KS), Leedy Voulkos Art Center (Kansas City, MO), and Wikimania (Cape Town, South Africa).
Mona Cliff's Artist Statement: "My work focuses on indigenous joy & resiliency of our ever evolving contemporary native culture. The foundational materials of my work derive from the materials we use in ceremonies and social gatherings. Materials such as seed beads and fabric applique. However, depending on the work I’m making, the materials I use vary, whether I use paint, cyanotype, beads, crystals or fabric. I want to express abstraction, personal narrative with materials I personally connect to. My utmost goal as a native contemporary multidisciplinary artist is to share the beauty of traditional materials and transcend antiquated ideas of folk arts and craft, utilizing ingenuity I've often witnessed in my Native American culture."
Ian Cook, Author and Artist
Ian Cook is a poet, musician, and artist living in Lawrence, Kansas, with his partner Maddie, two pups Mildred and Cordelia, and two rats Charlie and Alfie. Ian is a board certified health and wellness coach, and the founder of the Lawrence Psychedelic Society, a nonprofit focused on education, safety/risk reduction, and building community for those on their healing journey. He is the author of Vishuddha, opens a new window, his first collection of poetry published in 2024 by Anam Cara Press. He plans to speak about his work in mental health spaces and read some of his poems!
His current favorite book is Psychedelic Integration: Psychotherapy for Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness, opens a new window by Marc Aixalà.
Annette Hope Billings, Author
Annette Hope Billings is an award-winning poet, actress, and storyteller from Topeka, Kansas. In addition to poetry, prose, and short fiction, she delights in creating stories for and with children. She is a 2026 recipient of a Governor's Award for Excellence in Artistic Achievement in Literature, presented by Kansas Arts Commission. Annette also received an ArtsConnect ARTY Award in Literature. Her publications include four collections of poetry. Her most recent book is Just Shy of Stars (Spartan 
Press). Annette plans to reissue her first collection of poetry, Hope's Wife (2002), as well as a fifth collection soon. Billings also co-hosts Speak Easy Open Mic, a monthly poetry event now in its 12th year. It’s an additional opportunity to see her on the 1st Wednesday every month at 7 pm at ArtsConnect Gallery (909 N. Topeka Ave) in Topeka's historic NOTO Arts District.
Annette is one of a dozen presenters chosen by Humanities Kansas Folklife Series, which is part of the State's celebration of our Nation's 250th. For more information and to view performance videos, visit her website, opens a new window.
Annette recommends the books Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler , opens a new windowby Susana M. Morris, and also Sky Full of Elephants, opens a new window by Cebo Campbell.
Diane Silver, Author
Diane Silver is a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet and retired journalist who publishes the Poetry & Life newsletter and podcast at DianeSilver.Substack.com. She has written four books, including the Daily Shot of Hope, opens a new window meditation series. Audiences might be particularly interested in the podcast she publishes on the first Tuesday of every month where Diane reads and discusses her own poetry and sometimes even talks about the prayers she's writing that she hopes will help carry us through this wild time.
The poet Diane admires the most with an area connection is Annette Hope Billings, opens a new window. Diane added: "Her writing is masterful and the way she performs her poetry is genius."
Other favorite writers, especially poets, include Patricia Smith (see The Intentions of Thunder, opens a new window, which won the 2025 National Book Award), also Ellen Bass, opens a new window, and Ada Limón, opens a new window.
Nature—the birds, bees, foxes, coyotes, trees, sky, wind, wetlands, streams, lakes, etc., of this Earth—are as much a part of us as our own blood and bone. We humans do try to pretend that we are different than, better than, smarter than, and/or can dominate Nature. I think that's part of what has knocked us off our mooring and set us afloat. The Wakarusa Wetlands Celebration is a wonderful way we can steady ourselves and find our way home. —Diane Silver
Barry Barnes, Author
Barry R Barnes, or Barry Washboard Barnes, was born February 1, 1960, in Lawrence, Kansas. He is a published poet, electronic music artist, percussionist, and washboard player. Barry has been playing the washboard with local group Zydeco Tougeau for more than twenty years in and around the Lawrence, Kansas area. The 2026 Lawrence Busker Festival will be another opportunity to see him perform May 22–24, 2026, in downtown Lawrence. You can usually catch Barry performing his electronic poetry or playing the washboard at local open mics, and jam sessions. You can also hear and see Barry's art at Zydeco Tougeau performances.
One of Barry's favorite Lawrencians, who has had a great influence on him, and also shares a February 1 birthday, is Langston Hughes, opens a new window (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967). And a favorite of Barry’s books is Parable of the Sower, opens a new window by Octavia E. Butler. He noted: “If you like science fiction, check it out.”
Direct links to find Barry:
Zydeco Tougeau on Facebook, opens a new window
Barry Washboard Barnes on YouTube, opens a new window
Barry Washboard Barnes on Instagram, opens a new window
Acknowledgements
Appreciation to Denise Low, opens a new window for helping me acknowledge each Native American tribe with connections to the watersheds from the Wakarusa to the Kansas (Kaw) Rivers with their preferred names.
Cover image credit: wild plum (Prunus americana) photo by Shirley Braunlich
—Shirley Braunlich is a Readers' Services Assistant at Lawrence Public Library.
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