'Listening to Nature' Program at UW Focuses on Humans and the Natural World

November 7, 2012
Pinecone
“Listening to Nature” examines the natural world.

Scientists, artists and writers will share their views of nature during the “Listening to Nature” program Friday, Nov. 9, at 5:15 p.m. at the University of Wyoming Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center. The event is free and open to the public.

The featured artists are Melanie Matthews and Alexandre Latchininsky. Matthews, a photographer, earned her master’s degree in environment and natural resources and rangeland ecology and watershed management from UW last spring. Latchininsky is associate professor and Extension entomologist in UW’s ecosystem science and management department.

The featured readers are Kristen Gunther, Harvey Hix, Chris Madson, Emilene Ostlind and Carlos Martinez del Rio.

Gunther is a doctoral student in the Program in Ecology; she also recently completed her MFA in creative writing at UW. In her research and creative work, she explores the complex interactions between humans and their environments.

Hix has written several acclaimed collections of poetry and teaches creative writing at UW.

Madson, of Cheyenne, has been the editor in chief of Wyoming Wildlife magazine, a publication of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, for 29 years, during which time the magazine has won more than 100 national awards for excellence in communicating issues of conservation, wildlife management and ethics.

Ostlind earned her MFA in creative non-fiction writing and environment and natural resources from UW in 2010. She worked as an environmental reporter for High Country News and WyoFile before becoming the Haub School’s public relations coordinator.

Martinez del Rio directs UW’s new Biodiversity Institute and teaches in the zoology and physiology departments.

Gary Beauvais, director of the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database, will emcee the program.

“Listening to Nature showcases local and regional artistic talents, stimulates new thinking about human relationships to the environment and cultivates community engagement with artists to understand the environment." Ostlind says.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council, the UW MFA in Creative Writing Program and the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources sponsor the event. For more information on “Listening to Nature,” visit www.uwyo.edu/enr/upcoming-events.html or contact Ostlind at emilene@uwyo.edu or (307) 766-2604.

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