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Book giveaway: There Plant Eyes by M. Leona Godin

A personal and cultural history of blindness
Book giveaway: There Plant Eyes by M. Leona Godin

M. Leona Godin’s just launched yesterday, June 1, 2021 and I am delighted to announce a book giveaway for 10 copies of There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness by Pantheon.

A misty, speckled  spectrum of colors ranging from light grey at the spine to a vibrant violet at center with bright spots towards the outer edge as if a couple spotlights were hitting the deep violet making those places brighter and lighter. The title, There Plant Eyes:A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness, and byline, M. Leona Godin, are large and left  justified with only one or two words running across the cover from left to right and doubled in grade two braille.
A misty, speckled spectrum of colors ranging from light grey at the spine to a vibrant violet at center with bright spots towards the outer edge as if a couple spotlights were hitting the deep violet making those places brighter and lighter. The title, There Plant Eyes:A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness, and byline, M. Leona Godin, are large and left justified with only one or two words running across the cover from left to right and doubled in grade two braille.

From the website:

There Plant Eyes probes the ways in which blindness has shaped our ocularcentric culture, challenging deeply ingrained ideas about what it means to be “blind.” For millennia, blind­ness has been used to signify such things as thoughtlessness (“blind faith”), irrationality (“blind rage”), and unconsciousness (“blind evolution”). But at the same time, blind people have been othered as the recipients of special powers as compensation for lost sight (from the poetic gifts of John Milton to the heightened senses of the comic book hero Daredevil).

A genre-defying work, There Plant Eyes reveals just how essential blindness and vision are to humanity’s understanding of itself and the world.

By M. Leona Godin: I’m standing to the side of and facing a six-foot canvas on which is painted a hyper-realistic close-up of my head. In the painting I’m wearing purple and gold sunglasses (which sit slightly askew, and which reflect the lighting umbrellas) and smiling. In the studio I’m standing in a black wrap dress, wearing black Dr Martens, and holding Moses, who bisects the painting from the sunglasses downward. My black sunglasses are perched on my head. Author image credits - The painting is by Roy Nachum, and the photograph was taken in Roy’s studio by Alabaster Rhumb.
By M. Leona Godin: I’m standing to the side of and facing a six-foot canvas on which is painted a hyper-realistic close-up of my head. In the painting I’m wearing purple and gold sunglasses (which sit slightly askew, and which reflect the lighting umbrellas) and smiling. In the studio I’m standing in a black wrap dress, wearing black Dr Martens, and holding Moses, who bisects the painting from the sunglasses downward. My black sunglasses are perched on my head. Author image credits - The painting is by Roy Nachum, and the photograph was taken in Roy’s studio by Alabaster Rhumb.

About the author:

M. Leona Godin is a writer, performer, and educator who is blind. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times; Playboy; O, The Oprah Magazine; and Catapult, where she writes the column “A Blind Writer’s Notebook.” She was a 2019 Logan Nonfiction Fellow and has written and produced two theatrical productions: The Star of Happiness, based on Helen Keller’s time performing in vaudeville, and The Spectator and the Blind Man, about the invention of braille. She founded the online magazine Aromatica Poetica as a forum for exploring the arts and sciences of smell and taste, not specifically for, but welcoming to, blind readers and writers. She holds a PhD in English Literature from NYU and has lectured on art, accessibility, disability, and technology at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, Rice University, and the American Printing House for the Blind, among other venues.


Giveaway Details

1) Any disabled person in the U.S. is eligible for this giveaway of 10 books (hardcover, audiobook, e-book).

2) Please note the e-books require you to sign up for a free NetGalley account to access it.

3) Send an email to DisabilityVisibilityProject@gmail.com with ‘Book Giveaway’ in the title of the message. Do not reply to this newsletter!!

4) Include the following information in your message:

  • First and last name
  • Mailing address
  • Format preferred, one only: hardback, audiobook, e-book

If you do not include all of the required information I will not fulfill your request.

Please note: I will send your information along with your email address to the publisher who will reach out to you.

Published by:

Alice Wong

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