Reading Queer Stories by Queer Authors | Forest Euphoria by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian

Schedule

Sun, 22 Nov, 2026 at 02:00 pm

UTC-06:00
Location

1310 1/2 Melrose Avenue, Iowa City, IA, United States, Iowa 52246 | Iowa City, IA

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We are so excited for our next monthly book club for Reading Queer Stories by Queer Authors hosted by Patty.
Join us on Sunday, November 15th, at 2 pm to chat about "Forest Euphoria" by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian.
Stop in and grab your copy!
About the book:
Growing up, Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian felt most at home in the swamps and culverts near her house in the Hudson Valley. A child who frequently felt out of place, too much of one thing or not enough of another, she found acceptance in these settings, among other amphibious beings. In snakes, snails, and, above all, fungi, she saw her own developing identities as a queer, neurodivergent person reflected back at her—and in them, too, she found a personal path to a life of science.
Braiding her personal story with science, Kaishian shows us this making of a scientist and introduces readers to the queerness of all the life around us. Fungal species, we learn, commonly encompass more than two biological sexes—and some as many as twenty-three thousand. Some intersex slugs mutually fire calcium carbonate “love darts” at each other during courtship. Glass eels are sexually undetermined until their last year of life, a mystery that scientists once dubbed “the eel question.” Nature, Kaishian shows us, is filled with the unusual, the overlooked, and the marginalized—and they have lessons for us all.
Wide-ranging, richly observant, and full of surprises, Forest Euphoria will open your eyes and change how you look at the world.
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Where is it happening?

1310 1/2 Melrose Avenue, Iowa City, IA, United States, Iowa 52246

Event Location & Nearby Stays:

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