Award-winning author and bee expert Mark L. Winston will be the keynote speaker at the two-day Pollination Summit presented by Peterborough Pollinators, which takes place on Saturday, May 5th and Sunday, May 6th.
Winston, who has a PHd in Entomology and is the former Director for the Centre for Dialogues at Simon Fraser University, is one of the world’s leading experts on bees and pollination. His 2014 book Bee Time: Lessons from the Hive won both the Canadian Science Writers Book of the Year Award and the Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction.
With Canadian poet Renée Sarojini Saklikar, Winston has co-authored a new book Listening to the Bees, a compendium of his field notes and her poems which will be released at the end of April.
The Pollination Summit begins at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 5th at the Market Hall Performing Arts Centre (140 Charlotte St., Peterborough) with a “Honey Fair” featuring all things bees — honey, garden support, beekeeping, and related information with displays. Winston will also be available to sign copies of his new book.
Then, from 8 to 9 p.m., Winston will deliver his keynote address on the topic “If we could change our relationship with nature, what would the bees have to teach us?” The talk will be followed by a question-and-answer session, another book signing, and socializing, wrapping up at 10 p.m.
On Sunday, May 6th from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., three pollinator tours will be available, dependent on the weather: a tour of a private garden that supports native pollinators, a tour of an urban farm with a pollinator garden and some hives, and a tour of a community hive installation at a local school.
The tours will be followed by a visioning dialogue from noon to 3 p.m. at Lett Architects (138 Simcoe St, Peterborough), where Winston along with Ben Wolfe will lead a discussion on the topic of his keynote. The event will include refreshment break of local herbal teas sweetened with local honeys.
While the pollinator tours are free, the May 5th event at the Market Hall costs $28 ($18 for students), with tickets available at the Market Hall or online at markethall.org.
The May 6th visioning dialogue costs $15 (plus a fee), with tickets available online at Eventbrite. Only 50 tickets are available, although an additional 20 seats will be available at no cost for youth and students.
Peterborough Pollinators is a citizen-led initiative committed to cultivating a resilient environment for local pollinators, including creating pollinator gardens throughout Peterborough.
For more information about the group and the Pollinator Summit, visit peterboroughpollinators.com.
