Rebecca Solnit on Orwell’s Roses

Did you know that 1984 author and journalist George Orwell had a passion for cultivating roses? Learn all about it from Rebecca Solnit, one of our most revered journalists and thinkers, whose own creative and activist journey was shaped by Orwell’s path. In Orwell’s Roses, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Solnit uncovers how the iconic author’s activist zeal was intertwined with his love for growing beautiful things in the earth. Says Vogue, “Nobody who reads it will ever think of 1984 in quite the same way.” Joining Solnit is Deirdre English, lecturer at Solnit’s alma mater, the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and former editor of Mother Jones magazine. Hear these two remarkable minds on how activism and a reverence for beauty are natural bedfellows, and how true justice and equity require nourishment for the body, mind, and soul: in the words of the U.S. labor and women’s suffrage movements, “Give us Bread, but give us Roses.”

The bookstore partner for this session is Green Apple Books! Buy the books online at Bookshop.org or purchase them in person at the Festival. More information here.

Book signing information: Green Apple Books in Freight & Salvage lobby immediately after event

Sponsored by Reed Schmidt and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism