Festival 2025

For the Birds: A Walk with Anne Enright

Friday, September 19
10:00 AM
Starting at the Class of 1954 Environmental Science Center adjacent to the Peabody Museum: Registration Required (Limited Capacity)
21 Sachem Street
MAP
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Embark on a unique birding adventure with distinguished author and 2025 Windham-Campbell Prize recipient Anne Enright. This special event begins at the Yale Peabody Museum, where we will explore Yale’s rich collections of bird-related materials. Along the way, Anne will read short excerpts from her most recent novel, The Wren, The Wren at each of our three locations. From the Peabody, the group will embark on a walk to the nearby Grove Street Cemetery for an opportunity to observe living birds in a serene setting. Afterwards, we will look at bird paintings in the Yale Center for British Art with conservator and birder Mark Aronson. This promises to be a delightful blend of literary insight, natural observation, and engaging conversation.

Mark Aronson is the Deputy Director and Chief Conservator of the Yale Center for British Art where he restores paintings. He received his M.S. in the conservation and preservation of artistic and historic artifacts from the University of Delaware, Winterthur Museum program, and a certificate of study in painting conservation from the Center for Conservation and Technical Studies at the Fogg Museum, Harvard University. He is particularly interested in the history of painting techniques and attitudes toward restoration and conservation. As the British would say, he is an avid “twitcher” and has birded since he was in second grade.

Rain Plan: In case of rain, the event will transition to an indoor bird tour at the Yale Center for British Art (1080 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT), led by Mark Aronson, a conservator currently cataloging the birds within the YCBA’s renowned collection.