Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series

“By turns raw and mystical, steeped in loss but also reconciliation, it is a book that challenges our preconceptions, in regard to content and form.” So says author David L. Ulin about The Spring, the debut book from author Annie Connole. Connole joined writer Frances McCue in a virtual conversation about the book-length lyric essay. Together, they explored the themes in the book, which examine grief and transformation through the lens of mystical animal appearances following the death of the narrator’s partner. Traversing the wild landscapes of the American West, it combines prose and photography to create a lucid, dream-like vision of visitations and allegorical animal encounters with Snake, Owl, Horse and Dragonfly, among others. Connole invited us to experience a bit of that mysticism as she shares from the stirring, elegiac tale of death, love, rebirth, and friendship. Annie Connole is a writer living in the Mojave Desert. She was born and raised in the rocky highlands of Helena, Montana. Her work has