With Leslie Poole, Susan Lilley, and Bruce Stephenson
Sunday, April 3, 2022
The Wilder Heart of Florida, recently published by the University Press of Florida, is a captivating collection of poetry and essays featuring Florida’s most notable authors, poets, and environmentalists. The book leads readers on a journey through the natural wonders of the state. Join the History Center as we welcome one of the editors of the collection, Leslie Poole, as well as two of the contributing authors, Susan Lilley and Bruce Stephenson, to learn about the ways that Florida has inspired famous writers—past and present —and hear readings from their own works.
The Brechner Speaker Series honors the late Joseph L. Brechner, a longtime journalist, Central Florida community leader, and television pioneer who is also remembered as one of Orlando’s first clear public voices for civil rights. All Brechner Speaker Series programs are free.
Presented by
Dr. Leslie Poole is associate professor of environmental studies at Rollins College. A fourth-generation Floridian, Poole’s study of the state’s environmental history focuses on the role of women and grassroots organizing to protect natural beauty. She is the author of Saving Florida: Women’s Fight for the Environment in the Twentieth Century, and recently published a history of Biscayne National Park. She currently is finishing a manuscript about famous travelers in Florida.
Susan Lilley was appointed Orlando’s inaugural poet laureate. Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Gulf Coast, Poet Lore, and The Southern Review, among other journals. She is a past winner of the Rita Dove Poetry Award and teaches literature and writing at Trinity Preparatory School. Her latest poetry collection, Venus in Retrograde, is available from Burrow Press.
Bruce Stephenson is a professor of Environmental Studies at Rollins College. His 2015 biography, John Nolen, Landscape Architect and City Planner, won the JB Jackson book award in landscape architecture. His latest work, Portland’s Good Life: Sustainability and Hope in an American City, explains why Portland was the model for Orlando’s Sustainability Plan. To document the future Orlando envisions, Stephenson sold his car and took up residence in Portland’s Pearl District—a prototype urban renewal project. His recent article, “Rollins College and Winter Park: Exemplars of the American Renaissance,” for The Classicist is the focus of tonight’s presentation.”
