This event will be held outdoors at the new cocktail bar Glou at 134 Ives Street in Providence!

Join us as we welcome and celebrate Ben Shattuck’s new book, SIX WALKS: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF HENRY DAVID THOREAU (Tin House, April 2022)! Shattuck will read from his new work followed by a conversation with actor and comedian Jenny Slate. The event will end with a Q&A portion with you! We hope to see you there!

ABOUT SIX WALKS: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF HENRY DAVID THOREAU

A Most Anticipated Book of the Year at The Rumpus

“A gorgeous reminder that walking is the most radical form of locomotion nowadays.” —Nick Offerman

“I think Thoreau would have liked this book, and that’s a high recommendation.” —Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature

On an autumn morning in 1849, Henry David Thoreau stepped out his front door to walk the beaches of Cape Cod. Over a century and a half later, Ben Shattuck does the same. With little more than a loaf of bread, brick of cheese, and a notebook, Shattuck sets out to retrace Thoreau’s path through the Cape’s outer beaches, from the elbow to Provincetown’s fingertip.

This is the first of six journeys taken by Shattuck, each one inspired by a walk once taken by Henry David Thoreau. After the Cape, Shattuck goes up Mount Katahdin and Mount Wachusett, down the coastline of his hometown, and then through the Allagash. Along the way, Shattuck encounters unexpected characters, landscapes, and stories, seeing for himself the restorative effects that walking can have on a dampened spirit. Over years of following Thoreau, Shattuck finds himself uncovering new insights about family, love, friendship, and fatherhood, and understanding more deeply the lessons walking can offer through life’s changing seasons.

Intimate, entertaining, and beautifully crafted, Six Walks is a resounding tribute to the ways walking in nature can inspire us all.

ABOUT BEN SHATTUCK

Ben Shattuck, a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, is a recipient of the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize and a 2019 Pushcart Prize. He is the director of the Cuttyhunk Island Writers’ Residency. His writing can be found in the Harvard Review, The Common, the Paris Review Daily, Lit Hub, and Kinfolk Magazine. He lives with his wife and daughter on the coast of Massachusetts, where he owns and runs a general store built in 1793.

ABOUT JENNY SLATE

Jenny Slate is an actor, stand-up comedian, and the New York Times bestselling author of the Little Weirds and children's book Marcel The Shell with Shoes On. She has been in many movies and TV shows and also plays many cartoon animals. She lives with her husband, daughter, and their dog Sally. Jenny is a graduate of Columbia University.