The Grass Library

THE BOOK: The Grass Library

PUBLISHED IN: 2020

THE AUTHOR: David G. Brooks

THE EDITOR: Originally edited and published in Australia by Brandl & Schlesinger.

THE PUBLISHER: Ashland Creek Press, in the U.S.

SUMMARY: Originally published in Australia, The Grass Library is a philosophical and poetic journey by “one of Australia’s most skilled, unusual and versatile writers” (The Sydney Morning Herald). Both a memoir and an elegy for animal rights, The Grass Library portrays the author’s relationship with his dog, four sheep, and myriad other animals in the home he shares with his partner in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. This collection of essays—with its lyrical language, its honesty and vulnerability, its charm and wit—will delight and inspire all animal lovers, and especially those who rescue animals.

THE BACK STORY: After a half-decade already of radical change — a new relationship, a shift from Sydney to the Blue Mountains, a commitment to veganism and animal advocacy — David Brooks is diagnosed with a debilitating disease and decides to leave his academic career and free himself to write full-time. He moves to an old farm on the outskirts of a mountain town, installs the remains of his library in a converted farm shed, and begins to write a book he’s long had in mind, a biography of his dog Charlie. Things don’t quite go to plan. Sheep enter the picture, begin to visit the shed, sniff disrespectfully at the books. Soon it is not only a book about a dog but, with Charlie as psychopomp, about sheep, wild ducks, rats, snakes — a book about a library turned upside-down, about liberation from one’s past, about previous assumptions of meaning and purpose exposed to the scrutiny of grass. A philosophical and poetic journey: a memoir and an eloquent meditation on animal rights.

WHY WOULD SOMEONE WANT TO READ IT? In a very gentle, entertaining, and non-aggressive way, it will help them negotiate some of the ethical challenges and conundrums of our life with non-human animals.

REVIEW COMMENTS:

“The Grass Library is one of the most beautifully written books about animals I have ever read.” — New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

“By turns analytical, reflective and lyrical, The Grass Library quietly challenges the way we think about non-human beings.” — The Sydney Morning Herald

“… a wonderful book … I couldn’t put it down once I began reading … beautiful prose … ” — Marc Bekoff, Psychology Today

AUTHOR PROFILE: David Brooks is a renowned Australian poet, essayist, short-fiction writer and novelist, as well as a teacher and specialist in Australian Literature. Although born in Canberra, he has lived at different times in Greece, the United States, Canada, France, and, more recently, Slovenia. His work, which has won or been shortlisted for many major awards, is widely anthologized and has been translated into many languages. He is currently Honorary Associate Professor of Australian Literature at the University of Sydney, where from 2000 until 2012 he was also director of the graduate program in creative writing, and from 1999 until 2018 was co-editor of Southerly, the premier journal of Australian literature. He and his wife, the Slovenian/Australian writer and activist Teja Pribac, live with rescued animals in the upper Blue Mountains of New South Wales. They are vegan.

SAMPLE CHAPTER: https://www.ashlandcreekpress.com/download/Grass_Library_Excerpt.pdf

LOCAL OUTLETS: Any independent bookseller.

WHERE ELSE TO BUY IT: List of online retailers at https://www.ashlandcreekpress.com/books/grasslibrary.html.

PRICE: $18.95

CONTACT THE AUTHOR: Find David at https://dgbrooks.wordpress.com.