Black Earth Institute

05/23/2026

https://aboutplacejournal.org/issues/the-ground-beneath-us/

The Ground Beneath Us: Place, Power, and Resistance is a bold and unflinching issue that centers place as a living force shaped by history, marked by power, and sustained through resistance.

05/19/2026

We are excited to share new work and recent recognition from BEI Fellow Alexis Lathem

Her newest essay, “Witness at Witless Bay,” has been published in The Hopper. Inspired by her visit to the seabird colonies off the coast of Newfoundland, the essay reflects on wildlife, observation, and our relationship with the natural world.

Read the essay here:
https://www.hoppermag.org/witness-at-witless-bay

In addition, Alexis,s book Lambs in Winter: Sketches of a Vermont Life Through Seasons of Change has been featured in a review in the current issue of Solstice.

Read the review here:
https://solsticelitmag.org/content/lambs-in-winter-sketches-of-a-vermont-life-through-seasons-of-change/

Congratulations, Alexis, on these wonderful accomplishments. We encourage our community to explore and support her work.

I had long dreamed about seeing them. In their multitudes, in the grand setting of fog-draped sea cliffs. Because they throng in such immensities. Because they belong to the fog and the salt spray. Because they belong to the sea and yet they are winged, and yet they also belong to the sky.

04/22/2026

✨ Celebrating Our BEI Fellows ✨

We’re proud to share that BEI Fellows Lauren Camp and Claudia Saleeby Savage have been recognized in celebration of Arab American Heritage Month!

Lauren Camp’s powerful poetry collections: An Eye in Each Square, Took House, and Is Is Enough explore memory, identity, and the emotional landscapes that shape our lives.
Claudia Saleeby Savage’s Metal Used for Beauty Alone is a striking, lyrical work - described as both a love utterance and a call for music as protest, healing and change.

Congratulations to both of these incredible writers! We are honored to have your voices in the BEI community and to see your work recognized on a wider stage!

Discover their work:
Lauren Camp: https://www.clmp.org/news/a-reading-list-for-arab-american-heritage-month-2026/
Claudia Saleeby Savage: https://thepoetrybox.com/bookstore/metal-used-for-beauty-alone/

For National Arab American Heritage Month, observed annually during the month of April, we asked our member magazines and presses to share with us some of the work by Arab American writers that they recommend reading in celebration.   Poetry   THALASSA by leena aboutaleb Game Over Books | 2026 ISB...

04/20/2026

Applications Are Now Open!

We’re thrilled to announce that applications are officially open for the inaugural Hellbender Gathering of Poets, taking place October 5–11, 2026 in Black Mountain, North Carolina.

This unique gathering brings together poetry, environmental science, and community, creating space for a joyful rising in our climate-changed world.

Over the course of a week, participants will learn, write and connect with an inspiring faculty including:
David Baker, Camille T. Dungy, Jane Hirshfield, Tim Seibles, Laura Boggess, Luke Cannon, and special guest David George Haskell.

Applications are rolling and close May 11 (or when full). Only 48 spots available - apply now!
To apply, you’ll need:
• A short application form
• A cover letter (max 600 words)
• Five pages of poems
• A $25 application fee

We also offer fellowships and scholarships to support accessibility.
If you feel called to write, reflect, and build community around caring for our changing planet, we would love to read your work.

Apply now: https://hellbenderpoets.org

04/16/2026

We are pleased to share a recent piece from BEI author Brenda Peterson:

“End Times for Trump and the GOP: Heaven is here”

Adapted from her memoir I Want to Be Left Behind: Finding Rapture Here on Earth, this essay reflects on the intersection of faith and contemporary politics.

Read the full piece here:

Heaven is here

03/30/2026

NEWS

We’re excited to spotlight recent work from our contributor Brenda Peterson, whose writing explores timely themes of power, politics and global conflict.

“Trump as Once and Future King: The Pathology of Privilege”
A sharp reflection on leadership, privilege, and the political imagination in the age of the recent “No Kings” protests.
READ HERE: https://bpetersonauthor.substack.com/p/trump-as-once-and-future-king

“Rapture of the Iran War”
A powerful piece examining the narratives and consequences surrounding war, belief, and media framing.
READ HERE: https://bpetersonauthor.substack.com/p/rapture-of-the-iran-war

Both pieces invite us to think critically about the systems shaping our world and our place within them.

Thank you, Brenda, for sharing your work and to our BEI community for continuing to uplift bold, thought-provoking voices.

Is the U.S. war plan Armageddon?

03/10/2026

- NEW POETRY -
Holding Our Brokenness: A Gathering of Poems — Twenty-Five Years by Elizabeth Cunningham.

This powerful collection brings together selections from four earlier poetry collections along with new, never-before-published poems written between 2015–2025.

A reflection on grief, resilience, and what it means to remain human in difficult times.
ORDER at:
https://bookshop.org/p/books/holding-our-brokenness-a-gathering-of-poems-elizabeth-cunningham/dfea9022e64524c0?ean=9781944190224&next=t&next=t

03/09/2026

Thank you to our readers, our venue hosts, and everyone who attended the reading on Friday! It was a great success.

If you missed it, click the link to watch the reading here:
youtube.com/watch?v=z9cecUfokpg&feature=youtu.be

Special thanks to the Black Genius Art Show, Teri Hairston for hosting, and RaeLynn Gallagher for her photos and video!

03/03/2026

NEW NOVEL by Elizabeth Cunningham

We are excited to announce Elizabeth Cunningham’s latest fairytale novel “Over the Edge of the World”. The story reflects on mortality and immortality, courage and folly, justice and injustice, and the possibility of ecological redemption.

Set in another world and a timeless time, the novel is told through Rose, an old woman who begins sharing a story the children never tire of hearing. As she slowly reveals what she has never told before, a hidden world of power, secrecy, and quiet acts of bravery comes into view.

Learn more:

Featuring four elemental grannies, this magical story speaks to our own world and time as only a fairytale can—of human bravery and folly, justice and injustice, ecological disaster and redemption. […]

03/01/2026

AWP OFF-SITE READING! This Friday, March 6th, BEI and Cutthroat will have a reading at the Black Genius Art Show from 6pm-8pm. We hope to see you there 🙂