My Calendar

On Thursday May 3, please join Inlandia as we welcome Rebecca K. O’Connor who will read from her most recent novel, We Were Wilder, a dystopian wilderness adventure. We Were Wilder takes place in a future where the western United States has been “re-wilded” by flourishing popu-lations of animals missing since the Pleistocene. In it, a plucky heroine crosses the cordoned off west seeking a vaccine to the virus that still ravages what’s left of humanity 200 years later.

Rebecca will talk about the reasoning behind self-publishing this book despite being a tradition-ally published author. She will also address the process, challenges, and benefits of self-publishing.

Additionally, she will also discuss falconry, nature, and the open spaces that inspire her writing. She will be accompanied by a special guest, her current avian falconry partner.

Rebecca K. O’Connor is the author of the award-winning memoir Lift published by Red Hen Press. She has published essays and short stories in South Dakota Review, Iron Horse Literary Review, Los Angeles Times Magazine, West, divide, The Coachella Review, Phantom Seed, Prime Number Maga-zine and The Rumpus. Her work has been anthologized in New California Writing 2011, New Cali-fornia Writing 2012, No Place for a Puritan: The Literature of California Deserts and Animal Com-panions, Animal Doctors, Animal People. She has also written several reference books on the natu-ral world and several books on pets including The Perfectly Trained Parrot, a best-selling parrot training guide. Her latest novel, We Were Wilder, was self-published on Amazon in 2016.

Rebecca is the Development Director for Rivers and Lands Conservancy where she gets to com-biner her passion for preserving open spaces with her love for connecting people with the wilder-ness. She has also been a falconer and professional animal trainer for 20 years. In all of her work she strives to illuminate or foil the human condition through the animals that surround us. Whether it is to give a science-based lecture, write a serious how-to book or crafting deeply per-sonal prose, the foundation for all is a love for animals. She hopes that her life’s work will help people understand the animals (including other humans) that surround them and embrace their relationships.

This event is FREE and open to the public. The event will be followed by light refreshments. The Riverside Public Library is located at 3851 Mission Inn Avenue in the heart of downtown Riverside.