Local Author Talk with Ben Gagnon

The Greenfield Public Library welcomes local author Ben Gagnon on Wednesday, September 4 at 3pm for a talk on The flight of souls: Birds of the afterlife in ancient cultures in the library’s conference room.

The belief that birds transported human souls to an afterlife in the heavens can be found across ancient and indigenous cultures dating back at least 17,000 years, from Lascaux Cave in France to Göbekli Tepe in Turkey and throughout the Americas. The belief was part of autumn rituals marking the release of souls during bird migration season, later culminating in a celebration of reincarnation at winter solstice temples around the world.

A resident of Turners Falls, Ben H. Gagnon is an award-winning journalist and author of Church of Birds: an eco-history of myth and religion (Collective Ink, 2023). He’s also the author of People of the Flow (Beacon Publishing Group, 2019), a novel of historical fiction revolving around the Celtic Revival in the early 20th century and the rediscovery of megaliths across ancient Ireland. 

Books will be available for purchase from the author at this event.

This program, generously sponsored by the Friends of the Greenfield Public Library, is free and open to the public.