NEA Big Read Author Event: How to Love a Forest with Ethan Tapper
Schedule
Tue, 14 Apr, 2026 at 05:30 pm
UTC-04:00Location
138 Cemetery Ave. / PO Box 1105, Manchester Center, VT, United States, Vermont 05255 | Manchester, VT
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In this talk, Ethan Tapper, a forester, bestselling author and digital storyteller from Vermont, will draw from his work as a forester and his book How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World to discuss what it means to care for forests and other ecosystems at this moment in time. How do we respond to the harmful legacies of the past? How do we use our species’ incredible power to heal rather than to harm? How do we reach toward a better future? In a time in which many believe that “protecting” ecosystems means protecting them from ourselves, Ethan argues that humans must take action to help ecosystems heal and to move into a more abundant future, and that to do so is an act of care and compassion – of love.Ethan’s message is at once compassionate and pragmatic, clear-eyed and hopeful, sobering and inspiring – a powerful new vision for how we can build a world that works for all of its ecosystems and all of its people.
Want to attend the talk, but don’t have something to keep your kids busy? Send them to the kids’ companion program, The Celebrate LAND Project: Trees are Terrific!
Ethan Tapper is a forester, digital storyteller, and the bestselling author of How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World. For more than a decade, Ethan has been recognized as a thought-leader in the world of ecosystem stewardship, winning numerous regional and national awards for his work. More recently, he has been recognized as a writer – since its publication in 2024, How to Love a Forest has been named the winner of the 2025 New England Book Award for nonfiction, and received international acclaim.
Ethan’s message of relationship, responsibility and hope reaches millions of people each year through his writing, social media channels with hundreds of thousands of followers, and the hundreds of walks, talks and keynotes that he delivers across North America each year.
Ethan works, writes, hunts, birds and runs a small consulting forestry business from his home at Bear Island – his 175-acre working forest, homestead, orchard and sugarbush in Vermont – and plays in his punk band, The Bubs.
This event has been made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Big Read. NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. The goals of the NEA Big Read are to inspire meaningful conversations, celebrate local creativity, elevate a wide variety of voices and perspectives, and build stronger connections in each community.
MCL and MFFC’s NEA Big Read Project, “Building Hope and Connection Through Our Landscape,” focuses on bringing the people of the Northshire together at the intersection of nature and community.
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Where is it happening?
138 Cemetery Ave. / PO Box 1105, Manchester Center, VT, United States, Vermont 05255, 138 Cemetery Ave, Manchester Center, VT 05255-9701, United States, ManchesterEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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