World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments (Paperback)

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World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments By Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Fumi Nakamura (Illustrator) Cover Image

World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments (Paperback)

$20.00


Available for Pre-Order Now

September 2020 Indie Next List


“Aimee didn’t know it at the time (or maybe she did in her mystical way), but this book was written for me and all the other brown-skinned, nature-loving, quiet-questers in the world. This beautiful package asks the reader to pick it up and go for a walk down memory lane, where you will find essays on a diversity of flora and fauna, from the dragon fruit to the narwhal, and from the corpse flower to the axolotl — all of which are gorgeously illustrated inside. Her writing asks everyone to find beauty and connection to the wonders that are nature’s stories.”
— Jessica Palacios, Once Upon a Time, Montrose, CA

"Hands-down one of the most beautiful books of the year." --NPR

Beloved author Aimee Nezhukumatathil's celebrated work of nonfiction, now including additional essays and illustrations.

As a child, Nezhukumatathil called many places home: the grounds of a Kansas mental institution, where her Filipina mother was a doctor; the open skies and tall mountains of Arizona, where she hiked with her Indian father; and the chillier climes of western New York and Ohio. But no matter where she was transplanted--no matter how awkward the fit or forbidding the landscape--she was able to turn to our world's fierce and funny creatures for guidance.

"What the peacock can do," she tells us, "is remind you of a home you will run away from and run back to all your life." The axolotl teaches us to smile, even in the face of unkindness; the touch-me-not plant shows us how to shake off unwanted advances; the narwhal demonstrates how to survive in hostile environments. Even in the strange and the unlovely, Nezhukumatathil finds beauty and kinship. For it is this way with wonder: it requires that we are curious enough to look past the distractions in order to fully appreciate the world's gifts.

Warm, lyrical, and gorgeously illustrated by Fumi Nakamura, World of Wonders is a book of sustenance and joy.

Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of four collections of poems, including, most recently, Oceanic, winner of the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award. Other awards for her writing include fellowships and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, Mississippi Arts Council, and MacDowell. Her writing appears in Poetry, the New York Times Magazine, ESPN, and Tin House. She serves as poetry faculty for the Writing Workshops in Greece and is professor of English and creative writing in the University of Mississippi's MFA program.Fumi Nakamura is a street artist, illustrator, and designer. Originally from Shimizu, Japan, her family moved to California when she was twelve. Her intense and sometimes eerie graphite and coloured pencil artworks have been featured in exhibitions around the world. Nakamura holds a bachelor's in Pictorial Arts from San Jose State University. She lives in New York City.
Product Details ISBN: 9781639550562
ISBN-10: 1639550569
Publisher: Milkweed Editions
Publication Date: April 16th, 2024
Pages: 248
Language: English