Knowledge Share Description
In this knowledge share, we will enter the field of queer ecology with Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian, who will read excerpts from her book Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature. Together, we will consider how queer ecology can deepen our relationships to the natural world and invite us to imagine nature—and our place within it—in new ways.
We will then shift into a writing workshop, exploring how human stories can sometimes be best understood in relationship to other species. The plants, animals, fungi, and other beings around us shape our lives in material and intimate ways, while paying close attention to their lives can offer unexpected clarity about our own experiences.
Through writing prompts and guided reflection, participants will practice noticing relationships between the human and more-than-human worlds and experiment with telling stories within an enlivened ecology. This is an invitation to expand our frames of reference, allowing other species to become companions, teachers, and mirrors as we process and make meaning of our own lives.
Date: Wednesday December 9, 2026
Time: 5:00pm – 7:00PM EST
Cost: FREE for Living Library hbc members | Sliding Scale $45, $65, $90 for Non-members
We will explore:
Queer ecology and the queerness of the natural world
How our relationships with other species shape our lives and experiences
Ways that paying close attention to plants, animals, fungi, and other beings can shift how we understand ourselves
Storytelling in relationship to the more-than-human world
Writing as a practice for noticing, reflecting, and making meaning within an enlivened ecology
Who this Knowledge Share is For
Writers, artists, and storytellers interested in the more-than-human world
People curious about queer ecology and alternative ways of understanding nature
Anyone interested in deepening their relationship with plants, animals, fungi, and other forms of life
People who want to use writing as a practice for observation, reflection, and meaning-making
Anyone drawn to exploring the connections between ecology, identity, and lived experience
Cost
$45 - community
$65 - standard
$90 - pay-it-forward (if you have financial abundance, this is our pay-it-forward option to fund our full tuition scholarships)
For more information on sliding scale please check out this amazing work!
The zoom link will be sent upon registration. Recording will be available for 30 days.
Please apply here for a scholarship.
or access this knowledge share for free by enrolling as a member of the Living Library
Living Library HBC
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Accessibility Information
Virtual Gathering
*ASR (automated) captioning provided
The knowledge share zoom link will be sent out immediately upon purchase, along with any other necessary information.
Wednesday December 9, 2026
5:00pm - 7:00pm Eastern Standard Time
Class will be recorded and available for 30 days. This means you can join from anywhere in the world.
Facilitator
Dr. Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian is the author of Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature. She currently works as the Curator of Mycology at the New York State Museum. She is a teacher with experience ranging from outdoor nature education for children to college level biology courses in maximum security prisons. Her research focuses on fungal taxonomy, diversity, evolution, symbiosis, and ecology, particularly of the less studied fungal groups, such as the insect-associated Laboulbeniales. Patricia is a co-founder of the International Congress of Armenian Mycologists, which seeks to jointly protect Armenian sovereignty and biodiversity. She also studies philosophy of science, queer ecology, and queer theory, exploring how mycology and other scientific disciplines are situated in and informed by our sociopolitical landscape. Her work, The science underground: mycology as a queer discipline, bridged the relationship between queerness and mycology.