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      PEM Reads

      The Light Eaters

      Wednesday, November 12, 2025 from 7—8 pm

      Events PEM Reads Light Eaters Cover 1600px Split Hero

      Know before you go

      Virtual event, hosted on Zoom

      Free

      Join science writer Zoë Schlanger in a discussion of her critically acclaimed book The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth. This eye-opening and informative book looks at the ecosystems we share with plants and prompts us to rethink what a plant is and our own place in the natural world.

      In Light Eaters, Schlanger takes readers around the globe, while digging into her own memories and into the soil with scientists who have spent their lives studying plants up close. Her probings raise questions about what we can learn about life on Earth from these living entities that can thrive, adapt, consume and accommodate simultaneously.

      “A masterpiece of science writing.” ― Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass

      This program is held in conjunction with Knowing Nature: Stories of the Boreal Forest, on view in The Dotty Brown Art & Nature Center through September 27, 2026.

      PEM Reads celebrates the art of literature and the creative act of writing through a year-round series of collaborative book club readings and author events, both in person and online. By gathering to read and discuss world-class literature and meet authors, PEM Reads seeks to deepen our sense of community and celebrate great storytelling. We hope you’ll join us!

      About the author

      Zoë Schlanger
      Zoë Schlanger

      Zoë Schlanger is a staff writer at the Atlantic, where she covers climate change. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, on NPR and in the New York Review of Books, among other major outlets. She was the recipient of a 2017 National Association of Science Writers reporting award for coverage of air pollution in Detroit, and a finalist for the 2019 Livingston Award for a series on water politics at the Texas-Mexico border. She is often a guest speaker at journalism schools. She lives in New York.

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