INDIANAPOLIS — Next Indiana Campfires: A Trail Companion is a collection of prose and poetry from Indiana Humanities’ award-winning Next Indiana Campfires series. The book features a reprint of a Scott Russell Sanders essay; contemporary and classic works by Indiana, Midwestern and Pulitzer Prize-winning authors; and a trail journal to record notes about the weather, what was read and discussed, and more.
The book includes 30 readings, including Scott Russell Sanders’ essay “Becoming Native to Indiana,” which is currently out of print, familiar names like Etheridge Knight, Susan Neville, Mary Oliver and Tecumseh, Jared Carter, D.A. Lockhart and Michael Martone. It includes more than 20 trail journal pages for readers to reflect on and record their notes from their adventures, and more than 40 sketch pages to doodle, draw or write a poem inspired by the trail. Each reading is accompanied by icon illustrations to help the reader choose what to read and where. Identified Indiana landscapes include prairie, woodlands, waterways, dunes and communities. The book sells for $20 and can be purchased at IndianaHumanities.org/trailcompanion.
Indiana Humanities has used each of the texts in the book during treks for its award-winning Next Indiana Campfires program, which pairs nature and literature to spark conversations about Indiana’s future. Since 2016, the organization has taken Hoosiers on hikes, bike rides and paddling trips, pausing to read aloud the words of important Hoosier and Pulitzer-winning authors.
