Award-winning essayist Margaret Renkl will join Rural Assembly Everywhere as the first keynote speaker at the two-day virtual festival this April.
Renkl and the Rural Assembly’s Whitney Kimball Coe will discuss the shifting culture and demographics in the South, how we stay connected to one another in this time of deep division, and Renkl’s 2019 essay collection “Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss.”
The live event will kick off Rural Assembly Everywhere at 2 p.m., April 20, and will feature a question and answer session with viewers.
Renkl is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times covering the flora, fauna, politics and culture in the American South. She resides in Nashville.
Her essay collection “Late Migrations” was the winner of the 2020 Reed Environmental Writing Award from the Southern Environmental Law Center, included on the 2020 Notable Books List by the American Library Association, and a finalist for the Southern Book Prize.
“We are thrilled to have Margaret Renkl as part of Rural Assembly Everywhere,” Coe said. “She has a way of speaking to the ambivalence and grief we feel about living in communities that aren’t perfect, and yet we still love and hope for better anyway.”
Renkl’s next book, “Graceland, at Last: And Other Essays from The New York Times”, will be published in September 2021.
Registration for Rural Assembly Everywhere: The Road to Repair April 20 and 21 is now open.
The two-day event will feature keynote speakers and conversations, breakout sessions, and happy hours to connect you to leaders, allies, and emerging voices across rural America.
