As children, we have our own hidden worlds. This beautiful conversation with children’s author Jon-Erik Lappano looks at being our innate selves, while finding pockets of wildness and writing. 

We talk about unmitigated and imaginative play in nature. We look at the joy of the creative process, and what it feels like to make something (like a beautiful book) that you can hold in your hands. We talk about good storytelling, what it feels like to have a secret language with animals, and how we each relate to the world, even if that is quiet or quirky. We talk about darkness—the painful fleetingness of time, being swallowed up by the forest—but also wonder and magic. 

Jon-Erik Lappano is a Governor General’s Literary Award-winning Canadian author of books for children. He stays up unreasonably late working on things, and at his age, he should really know better. He lives in Stratford, Ontario, in a wild old house occupied by his wonderful, patient wife, three lovely, lawless children, and an unseemly number of pets. 

His new book, The Language of Birds, was published this week by Random House Studio and is illustrated by Zach Manbeck.

Modernity lets us be comfortable in isolation, and can make it difficult for us to turn towards nature and community. Many of us struggle with mental health challenges like anxiety and depression—and nature can help us heal. It can be helpful to see how our brains and internal worlds are a worthy part of the natural world.

Author Jarod K. Anderson joins Reseed for a conversation about letting go of shame, finding worth, balancing courage with care—and going to wild places with no agenda.

Watershed moments call for big changes. One of these shifts has been underway for some time: the righteous, individualistic, and exclusive environmentalism of the past is being steadily reimagined with an environmental movement that is characterized by joy, creativity, and authenticity. This environmentalism will also be intersectional. 

Guest Leah Thomas is an award-winning L.A.-based environmentalist and author of The Intersectional Environmentalist. She coined the term “intersectional environmentalism” in an Instagram post that quickly went viral in May 2020 amidst the widespread Black Lives Matter protests and calls for racial justice. She was recognized on Forbes 30 Under 30 List and TIME100, spoke on prestigious stages like TED, appeared in features in outlets like The Washington Post, and writes for publications like Vogue.

This is the first episode of Reseed’s fourth season—LIONHEARTED—which explores how To act with courage, from the heart. We were made for these times.

We are midwives of a transformation, in a time of crises and grief. Now is a moment to find our most expansive definitions of motherhood, nature, and ancestry, to equip us for this moment. This episode of Reseed explores mothering in these times of ours, writing through emergency, a ceasefire in Palestine, and the power of togetherness.

Kerri ní Dochartaigh is an Irish mother, writer, and grower. Her work explores ideas of emergency, interconnectedness and ecologies of care. Her award-winning books include Thin Places and Cacophony of Bone. Kerri is currently actively engaged with Irish Artists for Palestine, a coalition of artists focused on active solidarity and fundraising.

This conversation invites us to bear witness to the grief, atrocities, and brutalities of the genocide in Palestine and say not in our name. As we grapple with these horrors, we are called to bring our deepest reserves of tenderness and remember our deep love for each other.

Art has often been disregarded in climate and justice conversations, but creativity is essential for the revolution towards a regenerative and caring reality. Our environmental disillusionment can be a slow erosion of imagination, day by weary day, and artists have a powerful role to play: making space to feel grief, sparking imagination, knitting people together in solidarity and shared experience, and rekindling a belief in what is possible. Guest Rebeka Ryvola de Kremer is an artist and illustrator who is creating a more just and caring world, with art as a powerful medium to communicate climate messages and build community.

Music can help us make sense of, and deeply feel, our climate grief. Tamara Lindeman of The Weather Station discusses her acclaimed 2021 album Ignorance about climate grief which struck a chord with citizens and critics alike. Tamara joins Reseed for a conversation that spans selfhood, rootlessness, connection, the heartbreaking beauty of birds - and the role of artists is helping us process, feel, grieve, and reimagine.