Brooke Williams, author of Encountering Dragonfly, in conversation with Laurel Catto

Brooke Williams has spent the last forty years advocating for wilderness and has served on the board of multiple environmental organizations including Western Environmental Legal Center, Center for Humans and Nature, and Utah Rivers Council. His writing about evolution, consciousness, and his own adventures exploring both the inner and outer wilderness has appeared in Orion, Outside, Huffington Post, and numerous other publications, and has been anthologized in Best American Essays. Brooke’s books include Open Midnight: Where Wilderness and Ancestors Meet (Trinity University Press, 2017), Mary Jane Wild: Two Walks and a Rant (Homebound Publications, 2020), and Encountering Dragonfly: Notes on the Practice of Re-Enchantment (Uphill Books, 2025). He lives with the writer, Terry Tempest Williams, and two cats near Moab, Utah, where they watch light and wait for rain.

Years ago, Brooke Williams had a powerful dream about a dragonfly, a dream that cracked open his world by giving rise to a steady stream of dragonfly encounters in his waking life. Since then, he has delved deeply into the intricate and nuanced natural history of dragonflies while also exploring their symbolic meaning and cultural significance. Encountering Dragonfly is Brooke’s account of becoming an “imaginal ecologist” i.e. allowing archetypal and symbolic dimensions to stand alongside an organism’s biological and behavioral traits. Brooke has come to believe that seeing dragonflies both in and out of that dream marked his personal “re-enchantment,” changing his relationship with the natural world from one that is primarily ecological/biological to one that includes myth and dream and collective unconscious. His experience leads him to wonder about the implications of following a path toward greater enchantment and whether viewing nature through a less materialist lens can foster a healthier relationship between our culture and our planet.

You may also like the following events from Explore Books:

• This Saturday, 5th July, 04:00 pm, Samuel Marquis: Captain Kidd: A True Story of Treasure and Betrayal in Aspen
• This month, 14th July, 04:00 pm, Brad Feld, author of Give First: The Power of Mentorship in Aspen
• This month, 30th July, 04:00 pm, Jamieson Webster, On Breathing: Care in a Time of Catastrophe in Aspen

Also check out other Arts events in Aspen, Literary Art events in Aspen, Trips & Adventurous Activities in Aspen.