Orion Readers

ToEatWithGrace_cover_smallTo Eat with Grace
A selection of essays from Orion magazine

Foreword by Darra Goldstein. Paperback, $12.

What does it mean to “eat with grace”? The writers whose essays and poems are collected here have many answers, but they all come back to something essential: connection—with each other, with our inner selves, with the earth that sustains us. Whether foraging, baking, or gardening, digging their hands into the soil of their backyards or being seduced by the exotic fruits of a far-off place, these writers praise the sensuous and spiritual ways that our food can nourish us. As Darra Goldstein writes in her foreword, “When we eat good food, we smell and taste the earth, and thereby reconnect with it: this is what it means to eat with grace.”


AnimalsPeoplecover_smallAnimals & People

A selection of essays from Orion magazine

Foreword by Jane Goodall. Paperback, 134 pages, $12.

Perhaps nothing illuminates the complexity of our relationship to the natural world better than the relationship between people and animals. The essays collected here explore these contradictions in all their difficulty, but they also celebrate our connection to the animal world and provide a model for how we might respect and revere our fellow animals more deeply. As Pattiann Rogers writes, “For how can we possess dignity if we allow them no dignity? Who will recognize our beauty if we do not revel in their beauty? . . . How can we believe in grace if we do not bestow grace?”

Animals & People teacher’s guide [PDF], by Aaron Moe


LNCILeave No Child Inside

A selection of essays from Orion magazine

Paperback, 152 pages, $12.

Nearly every environmental change-maker in history was shaped by a strong connection to the particular place or landscape he or she called home. But many children today are glued to screens or stuck prepping for another standardized exam, while nature education and unstructured time outdoors have fallen by the wayside. If children are not given opportunities to connect with the natural world, who will be the stewards of the future?

The authors featured in this collection (including John Elder, Belle Boggs, Richard Louv, Elise Rymer, and more) are part of an education movement that proposes a radical reconnection of children and nature through education. By doing so, they argue, we build a society of better citizens—citizens empowered to fight for the places and communities they have come to love.


ChangeChange Everything Now

A selection of essays from Orion magazine

Edited and introduced by Jennifer Sahn, editor of Orion. Paperback, 105 pages, $12.

A new art form has evolved in the pages ofOrion over the last thirty years. Call it the literature of ecological urgency. No longer content to settle for diminutive steps that don’t add up, the authors in this collection are calling for paradigmatic change. Tackling such subjects as corporatism, consumerism, toxic chemicals, even environmentalism itself, these pieces share a common message: if our culture fails to adequately address the challenges of our age, things could get very bad for people and for nature. The Orion essays collected here are not just a call to action, but a call to bold and brave action commensurate with the level of transformation that is required of humanity at this moment in time.

Change Everything Now teacher’s guide [PDF], by Tom J. Hillard


30YPThirty-Year Plan

Thirty writers on what we need to build a better future

Edited and introduced by Jennifer Sahn, editor of Orion. Paperback, 105 pages, $12.

Orion asked thirty writers and thinkers to name one thing we will increasingly need over the next thirty years if humans are going to find a way to live happily, sustainably, redeemably on earth. Here is the result. From “optimism” to “improvisation,” from “young farmers” to “empty pockets,” the responses collected here are as wide-ranging as they are compelling. Imbued with thoughtfulness and buoyed by a profound sense of justice, this thin volume makes an eloquent statement about the future of humanity.

Thirty-Year Plan teacher’s guide [PDF], by Christina Robertson


WonderWonder and Other Survival Skills

A selection of essays from Orion magazine

Edited and introduced by H. Emerson Blake, editor-in-chief of Orion. Paperback, 107 pages, $12.

Is wonder really a survival skill? Between the urgency of the problems facing our planet and the chaos of our own busy lives, it might seem naïve to place “cultivate wonder” at the top of a list of priorities. Yet that is exactly what the authors in this collection suggest: that wonder is necessary, that it might just be what saves us. Readers have long turned to Orion to be reminded of the things that really matter, to build their inner reserves, and to rekindle their sense of intimacy with the earth. The essays collected here are testaments to the power of beauty and the importance of humility—and a deep belief, even amid darkness and uncertainty, in wonder’s essential role in our lives.

Wonder and Other Survival Skills teacher’s guide [PDF], by Jennifer Westerman