Emma Percy is a book artist, papermaker, forager, and gardener who can usually be found meandering around the woods with their dog, making a mess of their living-room art studio, or reading with a cup of tea. Originally from Buffalo, NY, they moved to Norwich in January 2022, and have worked as a silkscreen printer, a digital printer, a florist, and a farmworker before joining the Norwich Bookstore staff. Their favorite word is "selvage", which refers to both the edge of a piece of woven fabric and the untilled weedy border of a farm field.
A beautifully heartbreaking story of a first love, a fragmented family, and a struggle to survive in spite of harrowing circumstances. Coming of age in post-industrial Glasgow, Mungo is caught up in a tangled web of his family’s troubles, sectarian violence, and the murky intentions of strangers, but the tenderness of his budding secret relationship with James shines like a beacon through the storm brewing around them. Some of the most immersive, slow-burning storytelling I’ve read in awhile, I feel as if I know the characters personally, and it did make me cry. -Em
A chilling, dreamlike mystery that kept me on the edge of my seat. Layers of secrets and otherworldly phenomena unfold slowly but steadily, and the lines between living and dead, real and imagined, become hazier with each page, perhaps bringing up more questions than answers. Beautifully written and totally unsettling. -Em
This is a story that’s going to linger with me for a long time. It’s a riveting, eerie, and poetic account of a woman’s private quest to piece together the life of another who was mostly erased by the historical record, while at the same time contending with longing and mortality in her own present-day. Eibhlín Dubh and her loved ones - their passions, tragedies, drudgeries, and joys - feel present right there beyond the veil, yet painfully just out of reach. -Em
Kimmerer’s writing is just as tender and engrossing as the delicate, ancient species she writes about - a lovely confluence of natural-cultural history, biology, and personal reflection that feels like a breath of fresh air. Consider this an invitation to slow down and appreciate the microcosmic world of beings much smaller and more subtle than us. -Em
As gorgeous as it is informative, this guidebook offers a simple recipe for every color of the rainbow, beautiful photographs and peculiar drawings, and a set of general guidelines for foraging plant and mineral pigments and turning them into art materials. A lovely resource for artists, gardeners, and curious observers alike. -Em
If you’re intimidated by the idea of fermenting at home, or just aren’t sure where to start, this is a fantastic introductory guide to the hows & whys of making delicious ferments in your own kitchen. The recipes cover a wide range of foods and drinks, from vegetable and bean ferments to sourdough to homebrewed beer, alongside explanations of how each fermentation process actually works so you can experiment with your own variations. I’ve been enjoying homemade ginger beer, kombucha, sauerkraut, and kimchi, and I’m excited to branch out from there! -Em
Written in 1993 and set in a dystopian near-future of 2024, this story can hit uncomfortably close to home, but the protagonist's unwavering faith in her ability (and responsibility) to survive and shape a better world offers insight into how we might face the uncertainties of our current moment. Parable of the Sower and its sequel, Parable of the Talents, are powerful reminders of the importance of creativity, community care, and adaptability in the face of crisis. A gripping and fortifying read, though not for the faint of heart. -Em
Few books have affected me as much as this one, and I revisit it often to peruse its glossaries of peculiar Celtic words, which describe natural phenomena with a precision that can only come from deep familiarity with the land. These are dispersed between immersive and moving stories of writers who have devoted their life's work to the British landscape, and the author's own reflections on the connections between landscape and language. A trove of insight for anyone interested in repairing our modern disconnection from the earth. -Em
A fascinating journey through time from the most ancient hand-spun plant fibers to the futuristic synthetics of today, with centuries of surprising history in between. I came away from this book with a newfound appreciation for these materials that we wear and use every day, usually without a second thought, and for the people past & present whose stories are bound up in them. -Em
If you're looking for a new creative project, The Wild Dyer is a great place to start working with natural dyes. I often recommend this book to students in my dye workshops because it's beginner-friendly and visually engaging, but it also gets into the key nitty-gritty details of how to prep different kinds of fabrics to achieve the best results, something I've noticed can be lacking in other introductory sources. I particularly appreciate the focus on using recognizable plants that can be homegrown, foraged, or even sourced from your kitchen scraps. It even includes some creative sewing projects so you can incorporate the beauty of botanical pigments into your everyday life. -Em
A definitive, eye-opening retelling of the story of the USA from the perspective of Native nations, describing in comprehensive detail the last 400+ years of Indigenous resistance to colonization and genocide. Dunbar-Ortiz traces the evolution of the US as a militarized colonial power from the first arrival of Europeans in North America to the present day quagmire wars abroad and continual marginalization of Native people at home. Though difficult to stomach at times, this book provides a crucial perspective shift challenging the dominant narratives of US history and national identity, and should be required reading for everyone living in this land today. -Em