Left Bank Books, in downtown Belfast, invites the public to a talk and book signing by Cara Benson on Tuesday, Aug. 4, at 7 p.m., at the bookshop. Benson will be discussing her new memoir, An Armsfull of Birds: A Personal Field Guide to Love, Loss, and Commitment. Joining Benson in conversation will be journalist and Maine author Kathryn Miles.

An Armsfull of Birds is a climate memoir about developing deeply held commitments to ourselves, to those we love, and ultimately to the ailing natural world. Benson was once an addict who crawled through subway tunnels and partnered with an abusive man, according to Left Bank Books, in a news release. When she came face to face with her own death, she chose life. Her journey of survival led her into recovery and ultimately to Jon, the man with whom she cultivated a relationship as a lifetime partner.

When Cara lost Jon to suicide and retreated into her grief, she also retreated into the woods of upstate New York, exploring the forests not as the avid hiker she’d become in recovery, but as a meanderer who had lost her way. There, she found more grief in her observation of the effects of climate change. Benson came to realize that the lessons she learned from loving Jon could be applied to her relationship with the non-human world. Her daily life became a sort of field guide for how to live with a deep and abiding commitment to the future of the planet.

Benson’s writing has been published in The New York Times, Boston Review, Sierra Magazine, and selected for Best American Poetry. She wrote a series on walking in the woods for the Best American Poetry website and taught poetry in a New York state prison for eight years.

Kathryn Miles is an award-winning journalist and science writer. She served as professor of environmental studies and writing at Unity College and is the author of five books including, most recently, Trailed: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murder (2022). Her essays and articles have appeared in countless national publications, and she currently serves as a scholar-in-residence for the Maine Humanities Council, a visiting professor at Colby College, and a member of the Chatham University MFA faculty.

Reservations may be made here or by calling (207-338-9009) or emailing Left Bank Books. Ample free parking is available in front of the bookshop and in an adjacent city lot, according to Left Bank Books.