How Flowers Made Our World: Author Talk with David George Haskell

Description

When flowers evolved, they revolutionized the Earth. Gorgeous petals and alluring aromas transformed former enemies into cooperative partners. Join Pulitzer Prize finalist David George Haskell in a Zoom presentation Monday, March 30th as he explains the many ways that flowers build, sustain, and animate the living world, including human life. Sponsored by the University of Tennessee Arboretum Society and Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning (TCWP), the class is free, but you must register to receive the Zoom link and a copy of the recording to watch at your own convenience. . For questions or registration issues contact Michelle at mcampani@utk.edu.

Using stories from his latest book, “How Flowers Made Our World,” Haskell will illuminate the many ways that we live on a floral planet. Through radical genetic flexibility, flowers turned past environmental upheavals into opportunities for renewal. This inventiveness allowed them to build and sustain temperate forests, rainforests, savannas, prairies, and even ocean shores. “Flowers also catalyzed our evolution, and we now depend on them for food and a healthy planet,” explains Haskell. “When we perfume ourselves, give a loved one a bouquet, or use blooms in gardens and religious ceremonies, we honor the special bond between people and flowers.“

David George Haskell is a writer and biologist, acclaimed for his lyrical explorations of the living world. He is a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction, for “The Forest Unseen” and “Sounds Wild and Broken.” His book, “The Songs of Trees” won the John Burroughs Medal. He is recipient of an Award in Literature from American Academy of Arts and Letters. An author of essays and multimedia experiences for The New York Times, Emergence Magazine, and other venues, Haskell is a Linnean Society of London Fellow and a Guggenheim Fellow. An Adjunct Professor of Environmental Sciences at Emory University, Haskell is Professor Emeritus at The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Date & Time

Mon, Mar 30, 2026 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Venue Details

Virtual Program on ZOOM

utarboretum.tennessee.edu
Oak Ridge, Tennessee

UT Arboretum