Open Book presents Ryan Schnurr

In the Watershed: A Journey Down the Maumee River

Join us on Saturday, December 2nd to hear a reading from In the Watershed: A Journey Down the Maumee River and talk with the author about the history, present, and future of the Maumee River.

Open Book presents Ryan Schnurr

The Maumee River Basin is the largest watershed in the Great Lakes region, collecting runoff from more than 6,600 square miles in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan and depositing it in Lake Erie—though as the lake’s largest tributary the river’s influence is not entirely positive. In this lively, ruminative book, Ryan Schnurr explores the history, ecology, and culture of the Maumee River, from the influence of glaciers, through its role in Native American and American history, to contemporary environmental issues. Part cultural history, part nature writing, part personal narrative, In the Watershed is a lyrical work of nonfiction in the vein of John McPhee and Ian Frazier with a timely and important message at the core.

Join us on Saturday, December 2nd , at the Maumee Branch of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, to hear a reading from the book and talk with the author about the history, present, and future of the Maumee, and share your own stories of the river.

Books will be available for purchase and signing.

About the Author

Ryan Schnurr is a writer from northeast Indiana. His work has been published in Belt Magazine, Midwestern Gothic, and Old Northwest Review, and has been selected for inclusion in two regional anthologies: Rust Belt Chicago: An Anthology (2017) and Voices from the Rust Belt (2018). His first book of nonfiction, In the Watershed: A Journey Down the Maumee River, is out now from Belt Publishing.

Advance Praise for In the Watershed

“Every watershed needs observers who monitor its health, who care about the quality of wild and human life it supports. The Maumee Valley now has a new and keen-eyed caretaker in Ryan Schnurr, who has written an engaging narrative about a journey downriver from the headwaters to Lake Erie…” — Scott Russell Sanders, author of Earth Works: Selected Essays and A Conservationist Manifesto

“I am entranced by this slender, luminous volume. Ryan Schnurr has created a subtle monument to a place that we overlook, yet glows with sacredness under his measured gaze. Delightful.” — Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Devil’s Highway and Into the Beautiful North

“Ryan Schnurr is a keeper of the spirit of John McPhee, Edward Abbey, and Annie Dillard. The Maumee River may be relatively small and unknown, but reading this book it’ll feel as big and important as the Mississippi. It’s a rich, complex, and fragile place, and Schnurr is a superb guide through it.” — Mark Athitakis, author of The New Midwest: A Guide to Contemporary Fiction of the Great Lakes, Great Plains, and Rust Belt

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