What do an octopus, Shakespeare’s First Folio and forensic detectives have in common? An evening at Roanoke Academy of Medicine Alliance Foundation’s 18th Annual Book and Author Dinner at the Hotel Roanoke, that’s what.
On Friday April 15, RAMA will bring four authors together for an event that supports local non-profit agencies and provides scholarships for local students training in the medical field.
Once again, the Honorable Martin Clark will emcee the event. His recent book, The Jezebel Remedy, has just been released to rave reviews.
In addition to emcee Clark the following authors will be featured: Jeffery Deaver, author of The Bone Collector, which was made into a major motion picture starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. His new book, The Steel Kiss has just been released. Andrea May, an economics professor at California State University and Shakespeare aficionado, is the author of The Millionaire and The Bard, a literary detective story and Sy Montgomery, a naturalist who has been described by The Boston Globe as “part Indiana Jones and part Emily Dickinson.”
Montgomery is the author of more than 15 books, including the bestseller The Good, Good Pig, – a memoir of her life with pig “Christopher Hogwood.” Finalist for the 2015 National Book Award for Nonfiction, The Soul of an Octopus, is Sy’s latest book. In an interview prior to her upcoming trip to Roanoke for the Book and Author event, Montgomery elaborated on her writing process, her affinity for creatures of the animal kingdom, and her vision for changing the world.
Writing is the center of everything in Montgomery’s life. Married to an author and living with animals, she is able to go on extended research trips, which is the part of the writing process she loves the most. She spends between two and three years of immersion study before finally settling down to what is usually a year of writing.
Her scientific pursuits have taken her to exotic locales all over the world. She has been undressed by an orangutan in Borneo, hiked in the cloud forest of Papua New Guinea to track tree kangaroos, bypassed land mines and robbers in Cambodia to study the elusive golden moon bears of Southeast Asia, survived dengue fever in Indonesia – and, most recently, learned to SCUBA dive in order to commune with octopuses.
While the octopus has been the subject of recent science news with the sequencing of the first octopoda genome last summer, Montgomery brings a more intimate depth to her research. Not only does The Soul of an Octopus explore their intelligence that rivals that of the craftiest vertebrates, it gives a reader several portraits of individual octopuses and their distinct personalities.
Montgomery loves interacting with animals and uncovering their mysterious natures. “Your reality really opens up when you are in the presence of an animal,” she said. In the case of the octopus, she grew deeply attached to her subjects. Her interactions were highly tactile, as observed on page 237 with the octopus, Octavia. “Her wet grip on my skin felt gentle and familiar, the pull of her suckers tender as a kiss.”
Montgomery also writes for children and has a new book in her scientist series coming out titled The Great White Shark Scientist. She sees children as the best messengers for change in our world and hopes her books about conservation will educate and inspire children to take up the environmental torch. “They’re our most powerful allies, I think, in the environmental movement. Children’s powers are often overlooked.”
If you are interested in a memorable evening intertwining human and animal intrigue and supporting a wonderful cause, go to www.bookandauthordinner.com to purchase tickets.
Kate Ericsson
