In her talk, Christian McEwen, a three-time MacDowell Fellow, is a freelance writer, workshop leader, and cultural activist. She addresses the question, “What might it mean to listen to the past?” The first sound recording was made fewer than 200 years ago. But for centuries before that, it was possible to encounter previous generations through their music and songs, catching – in the arc of our own voices – the distant echo of those who’d sung them first, or tracking the words of our ancestors through letters or journals or fragments of poetry. McEwen will draw on her recent book, “In Praise of Listening” (Bauhan Publishing, 2023), to name the sounds and voices of the past, and encourage listeners to explore their own sound-memories.
A native of the United Kingdom, McEwen is the author of a number of other books, including “Jo’s Girls: Tomboy Tales of High Adventure” and “World Enough & Time: On Creativity and Slowing Down.”
Moderator: Howard Mansfield
