SUN VALLEY - The Trailing of the Sheep Festival, taking place October 6-10 in the Wood River Valley of Idaho, is proud to present celebrated author and essayist Gretel Ehrlich as keynote speaker for its Sheep Tales Gathering. She will speak on Friday, October 8th at 7 p.m. at The Argyros Theater in Ketchum, Idaho.
Ehrlich will share the stories of her travels and her deeply personal concern for friends and peoples throughout the world that are losing their traditional connections to the land through climate chaos. Their experiences fill her new book “Unsolaced: Along the Way to All That Is.” After the reading, Jenny Emery Davidson, Executive Director of the Community Library in Ketchum will join Gretel in conversation about her experiences and the writing of this book.
To search for answers, she travels landscapes from the Arctic to Zimbabwe and more. Intently, she listens to stories and walks threatened landscapes thriving only several years ago. She spends time with friends and experts charting ice flows in Greenland and seeking innovative ideas on healthy grazing lands from Africa’s Allan Savory. She is determined to understand what’s at stake for the future.
Ehrlich’s first awareness of the beauty and complexities of our changing world began during her transformative days living and cowboying in Wyoming and are found in her debut publication in 1985, “The Solace of Open Spaces.” The book is a collection of essays on rural life in Wyoming. Her new book “Unsolaced: Along the Way to All that Is” has been called a bookend to the first publication.
Ehrlich’s presentation is part of a lineup of special events to celebrate the Festival’s 25th anniversary year.
But Friday night’s program is unique, according to Festival Co-Founder and Artistic Director, Diane Peavey. “Stories and oral histories are at the heart of the Trailing of the Sheep Festival” she explained. “The weekend is a yearly celebration of folk and traditional art, history, heritage and the cultures of Idaho and the West. People have always shared their stories with family, friends and their tribe.”
Peavey noted that, “The goal of the Sheep Tales Gathering is to share from the stage those stories and experiences that explain the culture and the landscapes of home and the life and commitment to sheep herding and ranching in Idaho. And during this evening with Gretel, we take this exploration a step farther. Her experiences are unique and provocative, and we come away exposed to new and important information about our own lives.”
‘This is the importance of storytelling,” Peavey added. “We extend our vision and broaden our responses to the world around us by sharing insights, listening, and learning from each other.”