Visit the Annual Gathering 2024 website for full description, additional details, and registration.

In spite of a lifetime riven by illness and environmental change during an era marred by racial oppression and political turmoil, Thoreau once wrote, “Surely joy is the condition of life.” Even in his darkest hours, Thoreau found resilience. He turned from the depths of mourning to the healing rhythms of the natural world,  from the desperation of capitalism to the simple labor of the bean-field and the beauty of Walden’s shore, and from the cynical, brutal politics of the day to the wonder of children and the work of justice.

This year, the Annual Gathering will examine Thoreau and resilience writ large—nature’s resilience, Thoreau’s pursuit of cultural and political resilience, the resilient individual who was Thoreau, and the resilience of Thoreau’s legacy in our own times.

The conference will address the following themes:

• the ecological (presentations might consider Thoreau and biodiversity, sustainability, climate change, agriculture, water, etc.);

• the cultural/political (presentations might consider reform/activist efforts, resistance, social justice, race, disability, adaptability, etc.);

• the personal/spiritual (presentations might consider health and illness, psychology, spirituality, family, community, self-reliance, etc.); and

• the legacy (presentations might consider the resilience of Thoreau’s legacy in our own times).