Joanna Macy’s Literary Legacy

Event Overview

Join us for a free online gathering to honor the literary legacy of Joanna Macy through readings, dialogue, community reflection and Q&A with a panel of her fellow authors, moderated by Leilani Navar.

This gathering will be facilitated by the Work That Reconnects Network, in collaboration with Parallax Press, Shambhala Publications, and New Society Publishers.

 What to expect

• Short readings from Joanna’s books
• Reflections and conversation with authors and colleagues, including Kazu Haga, Jo Confino, Judith Plant, Molly Young Brown and Stephanie Kaza
• Dialogue Moderated by Leilani Navar
• Time for audience Q&A
• An opportunity to reflect on Joanna’s enduring literary and spiritual contributions

Free to attend — with suggested donations to support the Work That Reconnects Network’s efforts to fund the audiobook production of Joanna’s memoir, Widening Circles.

 

Friday, October 24, 2025

8am-10am PDT (UTC-7)

**Please make note of what time this will be
in your time zone with this Time Zone Converter.**

 

🌍 Partners in Remembrance

This event is made possible through the collaboration of:

• Work That Reconnects Network (facilitating)
• Parallax Press (hosting)
• Shambhala Publications
• New Society Publishers

Save Your Spot 

 

“The greatest gift we can give our world is our full presence, and our open hearts.”

– Joanna Macy

 

 

Event logistics:

Translated subtitles will be available for this event

This event will be recorded. The recording will be available three days after the live event and will be sent by email to all those who are registered.

 

Donations for this event will support the audiobook production of Joanna’s memoir, Widening Circles

Narrated by Leilani Navar, and produced and distributed by New Society Publishers, this audiobook will carry Joanna’s voice and vision to people around the world who may never have held the printed book in their hands. Your contribution will help spread Joanna’s story further into the world, so more people can be challenged, inspired and touched by her life’s work.

However, no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Please donate generously within your means, but feel free and welcomed to join us even without a donation.

 

Panelists:

Molly Young Brown combines the Work That Reconnects, ecopsychology, and psychosynthesis in her work: teaching online courses, writing and publishing books and essays, coaching and mentoring, and giving talks and workshops internationally. Her five books include the original Coming Back to Life (which she co-authored with Joanna Macy) and Coming Together in the Great Turning: Collective Liberation and Work That Reconnects. She lives in Mt. Shasta, California.

 

 

 

 

Judith Plant – Several decades ago Judith Plant edited Healing the Wounds: The Promise of Ecofeminism (1989), a collection of essays that she needed in her own life. Amongst the contributors was Joanna Macy with her article Awakening to the Ecological Self. Through her exploration of ecofeminism and its intersection with bioregionalism, Judith came more and more into contact with Joanna and her work. Later, Judith and her husband Kip, took the helm at New Society Publishers (NSP) and continued to work with Joanna and her co-author Molly Young Brown (Coming Back to Life) and later in 2000 with Widening Circles, Joanna’s memoir. In 2017 Joanna kindly endorsed Judith’s memoir Culture Gap, the story of Judith’s time in an intentional community. In late 2025, New Society will release Coming Together in the Great Turning, by Aravinda Ananda, Molly Young Brown, and Kurt A. Kuhwald, furthering the work that reconnects. Judith lives and works on Gabriola Island, BC.

 

 

 

 

 

Kazu Haga is a nonviolence trainer and restorative justice practitioner, author and longtime community educator working with activists, schools, and carceral settings to build skills for healing and transformation.

 

 

 

 

 

Jo Confino  is a writer and mindfulness practitioner; journalist and facilitator whose work explores compassionate leadership, deep listening, and the intersection of inner transformation with social and environmental change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stephanie Kaza is Professor Emerita of Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont. A leading voice in Buddhism and ecology, her most recent book is Green Buddhism: Practice and Compassionate Action in Uncertain Times. To learn more, visit www.stephaniekaza.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moderator:

Leilani Wong Navar is a mother, an acupuncturist and herbalist, and a dreamworker. With groups, she facilitates the Work that Reconnects and teaches practical wisdom from Chinese Medicine. Leilani hosts Turning Season Podcast, a series of conversations with people around the world taking part in the Great Turning in their own unique way.

Leilani attended Evergreen State College where she studied Political Economy and Holistic Health, and earned her Masters of Science in Oriental Medicine from the National University of Natural Medicine. She is in ongoing study and exploration within multiple lineages of wisdom for the well-being of the landscape of the body and the body of the Earth.