Women’s Speaker Series: Meet Kyran Pittman, Author of Planting Dandelions: Field Notes from a Semi-Domesticated Life
Admission: $35/$30 members – includes an autographed copy of Planting Dandelions, refreshments and admission to the sculpture garden (come early and stroll!).
Although tickets will be available at the door, advance purchase is strongly encouraged. If you prefer not to pay online, call 414-446-8794 or download this form and send it via email (staff@lyndensculpturegarden.org), fax (414-446-8492) or snail mail (Lynden Sculpture Garden, 2145 W. Brown Deer Rd., Milwaukee, WI 53217). We cannot guarantee that a copy of the book will be available for you if you pay at the door.
Margy Stratton, founder and executive producer of Milwaukee Reads is back with year two of her series featuring writers of particular interest to women. For the first event of the 2012-2013 season, she has chosen author and blogger Kyran Pittman. Join the Lynden Sculpture Garden in welcoming Kyran Pittman on October 16th as she engages us with her wit, humor, and stories of how life behind the picket fence has the ability to generate the most meaningful of adventures.
Kyran Pittman grew up on the “near-mythical” island of Newfoundland in Canada as the daughter of a poet, and was both in thrall to and suspicious of the white picket fence. Now that she dwells within its bounds (in Arkansas, with her American husband and three small sons), her outsider’s eye yields keen observations—as she puts it, she is a kind of domestic naturalist, embedded deep in the field.
In her vivid and intimate memoir, Planting Dandelions: Field Notes from a Semi-Domesticated Life, Pittman opens her front door and walks us through the first twelve years in the life of a family. Brimming with stories that will speak to every family, Pittman writes openly about maintaining a marriage for over a decade through three children, the threat of foreclosure, and the temptations of infidelity. She writes about saying goodbye to her formerly “outrageous” self, about the challenges of sex after children, and about trying to recession-proof her family. Through it all, she offers moving and hopeful musings on parenting and marriage and more. The result is an extraordinary book about ordinary life.
Kyran Pittman is a contributing editor at Good Housekeeping and an active and entertaining blogger at www.plantingdandelions.com. More on Kyran Pittman here.
“Crisp, witty dispatches from the domestic front by a former wild child... refreshingly candid.”
Kirkus Book Reviews
“She concocts a fine wine from the unruly weeds that bloom inside her white picket fence. Read Planting Dandelions. It’s a riotous and compelling glimpse of life after a perennial party girl crosses over to the other side.”
Globe & Mail
Up next, we travel to Paris with Cynthia Morris, author of Chasing Sylvia Beach, on Tuesday, January 15, 2013. In her debut historical novel, Colorado author Cynthia Morris brings to life the world of Shakespeare and Company bookstore founder Sylvia Beach and the streets of Paris in the years before World War II. Morris, a noted writing coach, will offer a writing workshop on January 16. More information: http://www.chasingsylviabeach.com/
