Treed: Walking in Canada's Urban Forests
Ariel Gordon
June 2019
296 pages | ISBN 978-1-928088-75-2
**Shortlisted for the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award 2020**
With intimacy and humour award-winning poet Ariel Gordon walks us through the streets of Winnipeg and into the urban forest that is, to her, the city’s heart. Along the way she shares with us the lives of these urban trees, from the grackles and cankerworms of the spring, to the flush of mushrooms on stumps in the summer and through to the red-stemmed dogwood of the winter. After grounding us in native elms and ashes, Gordon travels to BC's northern Rockies, to Banff National Park and a cattle farm in rural Manitoba, and helps us to consider what we expect of nature. Whether it is the effects of climate change on the urban forest or foraging in the city, Dutch elm disease in the trees or squirrels in the living room, Gordon delves into our relationships with the natural world with heart and style. In the end, the essays circle back to the forest, where the weather is always better and where the reader can see how to remake even the trees that are lost.
Reviews | Interviews | Articles | Videos | Excerpt | About the Author
Reviews
#816 Walking Through the Pandemic (Jaime Yard, Ormsby Review [now BC Review], 02/05/2020)
“Equal parts reminiscent of the relational ecological work of anthropologist Natasha Myers on High Park in Toronto, or of eco-critic Catriona Sandilands on Point Pelee National park, or BC author Theresa Kishkan’s deep descriptive sensibility for landscape and communing with animals, Gordon’s Treed enriches both the places it is written about and the reader’s attention to the places where we dwell and wander.”
Treed: Walking in Canada’s Urban Forests by Ariel Gordon (Jody Baltessen, Prairie Fire, 06/02/2020)
"Her writing throughout is personal, informed, and humorous, though deeply committed to encouraging meaningful engagement with the environments that surround us."
2019 Books of the Year (Kerry Clare, Pickle Me This, 17/12/2019)
“I’ve never looked at a tree the same way since reading Treed, by Ariel Gordon, and I look at trees all the time. A book that dares to make sense of complicated ideas – what it means that death and decay are natural, forests in the city, loving nature at a moment of climate crisis. To me, this book was like a balm.”
Book Review: Treed - Walking in Canada's Urban Forests (Malgosia Halliop, Luna Toronto, 19/09/2019)
"I felt a kinship with Gordon and all the places her curiousity led her, and with her commitment to working with both the gifts and limitations of the place she lives in. It made me think about all the ways it is possible to engage with urban nature: to tend, to celebrate, to protect, to find nourishment and inspiration."
This Is Not a Review: ‘Treed’, by Ariel Gordon (Carin Makuz, Matilda Magtree, 23/08/2019)
"[Gordon is] the kind of person who instinctively sees, hears, thinks, imagines . . . who wonders and is constantly curious and learning, finding nothing in the natural world dull."
Interviews
Made in Manitoba, Stories From Home. S1E1: Ariel Gordon (Anita Daher, Made in Manitoba, 06/11/2020)
Anita Daher interviews Ariel Gordon about her book.
The Environmental Urbanist episode for 2020-09-08 (Jason Allen, The Environmental Urbanist, 08/09/2020)
Ariel talks trees through her poetic perspective.
Under the Cover: Walking the Urban Forest in Treed (All Lit Up, 18/09/2019)
"The last thing you want to do is tell your editor that you’re struggling, especially when your editor is also your publisher." Ariel shares about how trust was the starting point in bringing her book into the world.
E144 with Ariel Gordon (Jamie Tennant, GET LIT, 22/08/2019)
Ariel talks to Jamie about her new book.
The Saturday Morning Show (Ron Robinson, Pages, 10/08/2019)
Listen to an interview with Ariel from August 10, 2019.
Articles
The M Word: A Roundup for Mother's Day Part 1 (Kerry Clare, Wolsak & Wynn blog, 01/05/2025)
Treed is included in this great roundup for Mother's Day!
Meet Ariel Gordon, Writer-in-Residence in the Buller Greenhouse (Jo Davies, UM Today, 06/05/2021)
A lovely article about Ariel Gordon's time as writer-in-residence for a greenhouse! We can't imagine a more perfect place for her to be writing.
Creativity in the Cards: Artistic Sisters Combine Interests to Chronicle Pandemic Experience (Frances Koncan, Winnipeg Free Press, 19/08/2020)
An article about how Ariel is creating art with her sister during the pandemic.
Recommended Reading List: Books With Vision (49th Shelf, 14/03/2020)
"How do you love the world with all its flaws? How do you love a tree while understanding its capacity to...die? What does it mean to be one with nature in the midst of climate change? The answers to all these questions are messy, and Gordon writes about them beautifully."
The Trees of Our Lives (Ariel Gordon, Winnipeg Free Press, 22/02/2020)
Ariel pens a write-up about the impact of a Winnipegger's favourite tree.
The Grass Is Greener: A Walk Through Winnipeg's Urban Forest (Jill Wilson, Literary Review of Canada, 16/11/2019)
If you were a tree, what kind would you be? Ask the Winnipeg poet and essayist Ariel Gordon that question, and she'll hesitate for only a moment.
Nine Books about Trees (Invisibot, Invisible Publishing blog, 30/08/2019)
"With intimacy and humour award-winning poet Ariel Gordon walks us through the streets of Winnipeg and into the urban forest that is, to her, the city's heart."
Great Companions: Because Two Books Are Better than One (Kerry Clare, 49th Shelf, 05/09/2019)
Ariel's book is chosen as a great companion read with To Speak for the Trees by Diana Beresford-Kroeger.
It's Only Natural (Winnipeg Free Press, 03/08/2019)
Ariel shares an excerpt from Treed.
A Treed Life (UM Today, 11/07/2019)
Read an excerpt from Ariel's book.
"For Me, Everything That Isn't Asphalt and Concrete Is Part of the Urban Forest" Read an Excerpt from Treed by Ariel Gordon (Open Book, 27/06/2019)
Ariel shares an excerpt of her book with Open Book.
Super Summer Reading Guide (Kerry Clare, 49th Shelf, 25/06/2019)
"Why we're taking notice: Even if you can't get out of the city this summer, Gordon's essay collection will take you right back to nature and have you taking notice of our amazing natural world."
Consternation under the Canopy (Jen Zoratti, Winnipeg Free Press, 14/06/2019)
"This would have been tall grass prairie," [Ariel] says of her neighbourhood. "I think on the conundrum of what it means to live on the Prairies, and be born and raised on the Prairies and have never seen the tall grass prairies."
'We're a treed city': Winnipegger explores relationship with trees in new book (CBC News, 27/05/2019)
"My message is … pay attention to the trees. Realize you're living alongside these amazing old beings. But also … let's maybe work more to protect them."
19 works of Canadian nonfiction to check out in spring 2019 (CBC Books, 28/01/2019)
Ariel's book is listed of non-fiction to look forward to this spring.
Most Anticipated: Our Spring 2019 Nonfiction Preview (Kerry Clare, 49th Shelf, 21/01/2019)
Ariel's book makes the 49th Shelf's list of most anticipated non-fiction spring titles.
Spring preview 2019: History, food & drink, science, culture, politics, and more (Quill & Quire, Spring 2019)
Ariel's book is listed in the Quill's Spring Preview.
Videos
Landforms/Bodyforms: Meditations and Movement (ALECC 2020)
Ariel shares a forest-bathing walk through the Assiniboine.
Canadian author Ariel Gordon on writing her book, Treed (Made in Manitoba Book TV, 14/02/2020)
Ariel discusses writing her book.
Canadian author Ariel Gordon reads from her book, Treed (Made in Manitoba Book TV, 14/02/2020)
Watch as Ariel reads from Treed.
A book trailer for Treed: Walking in Canada's Urban Forests.
What to Read with Chris Hall (Classic 107, 07/06/2019)
Chris Hall shares McNally Robinson's June selections.
Excerpt
Click here to read an excerpt from Treed: Walking in Canada's Urban Forests.
About the Author
Ariel Gordon is the author of two collections of urban-nature poetry, both of which won the Lansdowne Prize for Poetry. Recent projects include the anthology GUSH: menstrual manifestos for our times, co-edited with Tanis MacDonald and Rosanna Deerchild, and the third installment of the National Poetry Month in the Winnipeg Free Press project. She lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.