Join us as Milkweed Books welcomes author Nathan Lipps for the launch of his debut book of poems, Built Around the Fire, which delves into notions of place, the enveloping wonder and plight of our environment, and the complexities of rural culture. Nathan will read from Built Around the Fire, followed by time for audience questions and a book signing.
Enjoy a social hour in our brick-and-mortar indie bookstore Milkweed Books beginning at 6 p.m., followed by the reading and conversation beginning at 7 p.m.
About the book
Built Around the Fire delves into notions of place, the enveloping wonder and plight of our environment, and the complexities of rural culture: an examination of hierarchies, conservatism, generational religion, and the perpetuation of patriarchal norms. Such concepts are juxtaposed with a personal narrative: the rise and failure of a relationship, the deafening silence that arrives within any new vacancy, and the eventual need to learn to adapt in order to grow. These two themes—the notion of a midwestern place and its ideologies, and the notion of a failed relationship— work in tandem to speak for a shared struggle. The small family farm is dying out and the personal relationship dies right alongside it. What remains is a chance at rebirth, change, a looking outward, finally, as much as a looking inward. Though there is brokenness, and pain, there is also hope.
About the speaker
Nathan Lipps is the author of Built Around the Fire & the body as passage. His work has appeared in Best New Poets, EcoTheo Review, North American Review, & TYPO. Born & raised among the Great Lakes, he currently lives & teaches in Ohio.
