Willoughby Book Talk Explores NYT Bestseller ‘Is A River Alive?’ Aug. 20

BRANFORD, CT — The Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library and the Branford Land Trust invite folks to join the WILLOUGHBY BOOK TALK featuring Is A River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane, Thursday, Aug. 20, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the library located 146 Thimble Island Road in Branford.

Several copies of the book are available from the library. Please call the library to register for the talk and reserve a copy, 203-488-8702.

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Is A River Alive? is a New York Times Bestseller, and winner of the 2026 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award, and the 2026 Nautilus Book Award. Macfarlane takes readers on three unforgettable journeys teeming with extraordinary people, stories, and places: to the miraculous cloud-forests and mountain streams of Ecuador, to the wounded creeks and lagoons of India, and to the spectacular wild rivers of Canada—imperiled respectively by mining, pollution, and dams. Braiding these journeys is the life story of the fragile chalk stream a mile from Macfarlane's house, a stream who flows through his own years and days. At its heart is a single, transformative idea: that rivers are not mere matter for human use, but living beings – who should be recognized as such in both imagination and law. Is a River Alive? takes the reader on an exhilarating exploration of the past, present and futures of this ancient, urgent concept.

Macfarlane is the bestselling author of an award-winning trilogy of books about landscape and the human heart: Mountains of the Mind, The Wild Places, and The Old Ways. He is also the author of Landmarks and Holloway. His work has been translated into a dozen languages and is published in more than 20 countries, and his books have been widely adapted for TV, film, and radio by the BBC, among others. Macfarlane has contributed to Harper's Magazine, Granta, The Observer (London), the Times Literary Supplement (London), and the London Review of Books. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2012, and is currently a Fellow in English of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

About the Branford Land Trust

The Branford Land Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, accredited by the Land Trust Alliance, established in 1967 to protect Branford's open space andnatural resources. Run by volunteers and supported bymember families and businesses, the Land Trust maintainsmore than 30 miles of hiking trails, manages and protectsover 1,000 acres in more than 130 parcels and holdsconservation easements on another 400 acres in Branford.For more information, visit www.branfordlandtrust.org.