New Books Network Jennifer Kabat, "Nightshining" (Milkweed, 2025)
Jul 1, 2025
Jennifer Kabat, author of "Nightshining" and a passionate herbalist, shares her journey from London to rural New York, facing environmental challenges and personal loss. She intertwines themes of grief and nature, drawing solace from the endurance of hemlock trees. The conversation explores the memoir's innovative narrative style, blending personal experiences with climate change, and emphasizes the importance of storytelling in understanding ecological issues. Kabat also discusses impactful books that reflect connections between community, nature, and climate.
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Floods Inspire Memoir
- Jennifer Kabat moved to Margaretville to escape pollution but faced severe flooding there instead.
- Her personal floods inspired the narrative focus of Night Shining as interwoven environmental crises.
Place Holds Multiple Times
- Living in one place reveals multiple layers of time existing simultaneously.
- This nonlinear view challenges conventional chronological progress and offers new ways to think about climate crisis.
Nature as Grief's Anchor
- Kabat connects her father's death to enduring natural time, finding him in hemlock trees.
- This fusion allows her to live with grief as an ongoing presence rather than closure.
