Imminent Domains

Imminent Domains: Reckoning with the Anthropocene invites readers to join a contemplation of survival—our own, and that of the elements that surround us. Using research, lyric prose, and first-hand experiences, Alessandra Naccarato addresses fundamental questions about our modern relationship to nature amidst depictions of landscapes undergoing dramatic transformation.

We trace the veins of harm, memory and meaning amongst ecosystems and bioregions; through history and across continents, from the mines of Cerro Rico to the ruins of Pompeii. Arranged by five central elements of survival—earth, fire, water, air and spirit—these essays refute linearity, just as nature does.

Naccarato offers not blanket answers about our future, but rather myriad ways to find our own, individual response to an imminent question. We are being called to work together; to dig a trench deep and wide enough that the fires around us might stay at bay. How do we turn towards the fire?

AUTHOR

Alessandra Naccarato

ALESSANDRA NACCARATO, born and raised in Tkaronto (Toronto), is the recipient of the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award and the CBC Books Poetry Prize. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, and a graduate degree in Community Economic Development from Concordia University. Her debut poetry collection, Re-Origin of Species, was awarded the AICW Bressani Literary Prize for Poetry, shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, and longlisted for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award. Her creative nonfiction, Imminent Domains: Reckoning with the Anthropocene, was a bronze medal winner of the 2023 Independent Publisher Book Awards in the Essay Category.

Reviews

“Naccarato has crafted a collection of highly readable essays full of rich prose. Though the issues she grapples with are often heavy, her writing never feels hopeless. Given the current state of the world, a little hope goes a long way.” —Quill & Quire

“Naccarato’s genre-defying book, part memoir, part confessional, part travelogue, part manifesto, part meditation, and part embrace (of humanity, connection and kinship with a more-than-human world), soars and dips through time and space, experience and emotion, doubt and grief. Ultimately, perhaps it is about life in the thorny, tricky, challenging, and contradictory times in which we all live.” —The British Columbia Review