Books by Francis Halle
Atlas of Poetic Botany (The MIT Press)
Botanical encounters in the rainforest: trees that walk, a leaf as big as an awning, a plant that dances.
This Atlas invites the reader to tour the farthest reaches of the rainforest in search of exotic—poetic—plant life. Guided in these botanical encounters by Francis Hallé, who has spent forty years in pursuit of the strange and beautiful plant specimens of the rainforest, the reader discovers a plant with just one solitary, monumental leaf; an invasive hyacinth; a tree that walks; a parasitic laurel; and a dancing vine. Further explorations reveal the Rafflesia arnoldii, the biggest flower in the world, with a crown of stamens and pistils the color of rotten meat that exude the stench of garbage in the summer sun; underground trees with leaves that form a carpet on the ground above them; and the biggest tree in Africa, which can reach seventy meters (more tha 200 feet) in height, with a four-meter (about 13 feet) diameter. Hallé's drawings, many in color, provide a witty accompaniment.
Like any good tour guide, Hallé tells stories to illustrate his facts. Readers learn about, among other things, Queen Victoria's rubber tree; legends of the moabi tree (for example, that powder from the bark confers invisibility); a flower that absorbs energy from a tree; plants that imitate other plants; a tree that rains; and a fern that clones itself.
Hallé's drawings represent an investment in time that returns a dividend of wonder more satisfying than the ephemeral thrill afforded by the photograph. The Atlas of Poetic Botany allows us to be amazed by forms of life that seem as strange as visitors from another planet.
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Trees
by Percival Everett, Tony Johnston, Francis Halle, Bruce Albert, Carme Lemniscates, Verlie Hutchens, Stefano Mancuso
A lyrical narrative and lovely, graphic illustrations pay tribute to the beauty and importance of the trees all around us.
Trees change through the seasons — springing to life, bearing fruit, and losing their leaves before a period of sleep. They clean the air we breathe, provide seeds and homes for creatures, and extend their shade to everyone equally. Throughout all these changes, trees are constant, patiently learning to grow and flourish wherever they might be. Trees is a reverent and poetic homage that invites the reader to take a closer look at these magnificent beings.
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Trees
by Percival Everett, Tony Johnston, Francis Halle, Bruce Albert, Carme Lemniscates, Verlie Hutchens, Stefano Mancuso
Every tree has its own story to tell in this evocative collection of poems celebrating the many varieties—from maple to willow to oak.
There are so many different kinds of trees in the world, and each has special qualities that make it unique. This lyrical, fanciful collection of poems celebrates the singular beauty of each tree, from the gnarled old apple tree to the tall and graceful aspen.
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Trees
by Percival Everett, Tony Johnston, Francis Halle, Bruce Albert, Carme Lemniscates, Verlie Hutchens, Stefano Mancuso
Explore a fantastical forest in this exquisite and lyrical picture book that celebrates all trees, from maple to elm to ginkgo to magnolia to redwood—written by award-winning author Tony Johnston.
Part poetry, part celebration of nature, each page of this stunning book brings readers deeper into the majestic world of trees. Old trees. Trees with shiny leaves shimmering after rain. And at night, trees holding out their limbs for the stars. Debut illustrator Tiffany Bozic created her striking artwork by painting directly on tree bark and the authenticity shines through in this meditative work.
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Trees
by Percival Everett, Tony Johnston, Francis Halle, Bruce Albert, Carme Lemniscates, Verlie Hutchens, Stefano Mancuso
From July 12th 2019 to January 5th 2020, the Fondation Cartier presented Trees, an ambitious exhibition devoted to trees, these exceptional living beings with unexpected faculties and yet widely threatened today. Underestimated by biologists for a long time―like the entirety of the plant kingdom―in recent years they have been the subject of scientific discoveries that have allowed us to see these organisms in a new light. Interestingly, some of these are among the oldest and largest members of this community of living things. Boasting sensory and motor skills, capable of communication, existing in symbiosis with other species and the climate, trees are equipped with unexpected faculties whose discovery confirms what traditional knowledge has long since incorporated. The veil has been lifted on a fascinating world―the world of plant intelligence―which could be the answer to many of today’s technological and environmental problems.
Trees allows readers to discover all of the works presented in the exhibition through almost 500 images, as well as a rich ensemble of scientific and critical texts. Combining the work of painters, photographers, architects, sculptors, philosophers, botanists and climatology specialists, this publication highlights the beauty, ingenuity and biological wealth of trees.
Contributors include: Emanuele Coccia, Cesare Leonardi, Bruce Albert, Luiz Zerbini, Raymond Depardon, Jean Nouvel, Tony Oursler, Adriana Varejao, Lothar Baumgarten and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
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Trees
by Percival Everett, Tony Johnston, Francis Halle, Bruce Albert, Carme Lemniscates, Verlie Hutchens, Stefano Mancuso
Shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize
Winner of the 2022 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
Finalist for the 2022 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award
Finalist for the 2023 Dublin Literary Award
Longlisted for the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
An uncanny literary thriller addressing the painful legacy of lynching in the US, by the author of Telephone
Percival Everett’s The Trees is a page-turner that opens with a series of brutal murders in the rural town of Money, Mississippi. When a pair of detectives from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation arrive, they meet expected resistance from the local sheriff, his deputy, the coroner, and a string of racist White townsfolk. The murders present a puzzle, for at each crime scene there is a second dead body: that of a man who resembles Emmett Till.
The detectives suspect that these are killings of retribution, but soon discover that eerily similar murders are taking place all over the country. Something truly strange is afoot. As the bodies pile up, the MBI detectives seek answers from a local root doctor who has been documenting every lynching in the country for years, uncovering a history that refuses to be buried. In this bold, provocative book, Everett takes direct aim at racism and police violence, and does so in a fast-paced style that ensures the reader can’t look away. The Trees is an enormously powerful novel of lasting importance from an author with his finger on America’s pulse.
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$17.00