With Nature as Our Witness: The Lies of Enslavement and the Love of Earthly Being

Author Biography

Dr. Kimberly Ruffin is a proud Earthling and descendent of enslaved people in the United States. Currently, her role as an Associate Professor of English at Roosevelt University, in Chicago, anchors her teaching and researching. She uses volunteering and training as a nature and forest therapy guide to enrich her role as a storyteller who focuses on, in her estimation, the greatest planet in the universe. Her multi-dimensional work focuses on the deep connections between African Americans and the natural world, and their potentials for collective liberation. Her first monograph, Black on Earth: African-American Ecoliterary Traditions put Black writers on the map of nature literature in the United States. With Nature as Our Witness: The Lies of Enslavement and the Love of Earthly Being is her latest book, a creative collaboration with ancestral voices and a contemporary visual artist. Both the Kalliopeia Foundation and the Aldo and Estella Leopold Writing Program have supported her writing. Birding, bicycling, and singing around campfires are among her favorite forms of earthly being. She stays in touch with other Earthlings at www.cardinalencounters.com. Charlene Mosley is an Oscar-nominated, San Diego-based fine artist, illustrator, concept artist and muralist. Mosley has illustrated more than 20 published children's books and coloring books. In addition to that, she has created covers and illustrations for various adult literary and research books. She is also Gallery Assistant Director and Vice President of the non-profit organization, East County Art Association, where she enjoys giving back to the community in all kinds of creative ways. Her personal artwork is created in her San Diego studio, STUDIO 15. Her current projects can be found at www.charlenemosley.com and her Instagram: @cm__art.