Join us for a conversation with Christopher Preston, a January Writer-in-Residence at The Community Library’s Hemingway House. Preston will be in conversation with Martha Williams, the Library’s director of programs and education, on his work and writing, which centers on wildlife and rewilding, technology, conservation, and climate change. Their conversation will welcome your questions and range from the implications of the Anthropocene to wildlife recovery and ecological restoration, and from practicing the humanities in scientific environments to examining the ethical dimensions of emerging science and technology. A book signing will follow.

Christopher J. Preston is a writer and philosophy professor based in Missoula, Montana. His essays have appeared in The Atlantic, Sierra, Smithsonian Magazine, Discover, Orion, The Conversation, the Wall Street Journal, and The BBC. His latest book, “Tenacious Beasts: Wildlife Recoveries That Change How We Think About Animals” won the 2024 High Plains International Book Award for non-fiction and made the New Yorker’s Best Books list of 2023. Tenacious Beasts investigates a dozen wildlife species that have fought back from the brink of extinction. Christopher meets the scientists, indigenous leaders, and activists who have assisted their return and uncovers what these tenacious species have to teach. His previous book, “The Synthetic Age: Outdesigning Evolution, Resurrecting Species, and Reengineering Our World,” is about technologies threatening to transform the natural world. It was translated into six languages and won a silver medal from Nautilus in the ecology and environment category. In 2023, Christopher won an award from the International Society for Environmental Ethics for his work as a public philosopher.