When Trees Testify coming from @henryholtbooks.bsky.social Jan. 20, 2026 sitting pretty with other forthcoming books & reviewed in @publisherswkly.bsky.social

In discussion of her new book "Peril & Promise: College Leadership in Turbulent Times" Dr Beverly Daniel Tatum/BDT with Dr Ruth J. Simmons/RJS, former Univ./College Presidents discuss current challenges, opportunities & morals/ethics in higher ed leadership. Host @umich.edu & @umichncid.bsky.social

I met this beautiful cotton tree on Oct 21 in Falmouth, Jamaica days before we had any idea Hurricane Melissa would come. I stood with it with my Falmouth family remarking on what it had seen & memories it carries with no idea of what it and we would experience in the days to come. #jamaicaonelove🇯🇲❤️

Educators and Librarians: Thursday Oct. 23rd join @libraryjournal.bsky.social's Day of Dialog for a great program! I'll participate in the panel (1:00-1:50 PM ET) Hidden Legacies: Unearthing Black Histories" with Clyde W. Ford, Wil Haygood, @brianjoneseducator.bsky.social Moderator: Grace D. Gipson

🙏🏾❤️

Recent conversation with Luis De Luna Valdez post-doctoral researcher @ucriverside.bsky.social & Features Editor for @theplantjournal.bsky.social 10 questions about my academic work at interface of plant boo, leadership, mentoring & institutional change: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/AKQTDG....

New Research Topic alert! 'Exploring Academic Ecosystems in STEM' is now open for submissions in Frontiers in Education. @berondam.bsky.social @beckypackard.bsky.social Submit your manuscript summary by 11 January 2026 ➡️ www.frontiersin.org/research-top... #Ecosystems #STEM

Congratulations...and thank you!

Thank you @smellosopher.bsky.social !

Although I heard them speak separately at a book festival, what a joy to experience @aleliabundles.bsky.social (author of Joy Goddess: A'Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance) & @dolenperkinsvaldez.bsky.social (author of Happy Land) in convo on their biography and historical fiction, respectively.

Ran into this amazing human being @itsafronomics.bsky.social in a crosswalk. Though our first in person meeting, I'm a big fan of Anna's work & vision. If you've not picked her new book The Double Tax do it now! Also pre-order my next book, When Trees Testify too! Link: bookshop.org/p/books/when...

Morning writing inspiration is from Ms. @aleliabundles.bsky.social whom I recently had the pleasure of hearing talk about her latest book Joy Goddess: "Our stories are our power. I write the books I wish had been written for me." That's a whole sermon & also what I seek to do in #WhenTreesTestify.

A whole word ..a whole call to action. Thank you @smashfizzle.bsky.social !!!

Full text of "Reimagining a path from institutional willingness to readiness: ecosystem variables that promote or impede sustainable transformation in higher education" now available: www.frontiersin.org/journals/edu...

Editing proofs of "Reimagining a path from institutional willingness to readiness: Ecosystem variables that promote or impede sustainable transformation in higher education" with Joseph Whittaker on willingness vs readiness to support institutional transformation www.frontiersin.org/journals/edu...

Book mail from @henryholtbooks.bsky.social ! I’m so excited to read @berondam.bsky.social ‘s new book!!

Great convo between @taylorbyas.bsky.social on her most recent poetry book "Resting Bitch Face" with @roxanegay.bsky.social for the Audacious Book Club. Great insights on demands on Black women & their bodies—erasure, politicization, expectation of performative acceptability (e.g., smiling vs RBF).

I started writing (or at least officially publishing) about the prevalence of & ills associated with gatekeeping in academia in 2020 [ scholar.valpo.edu/jvbl/vol13/i... ]. I proposed an alternative of Groundskeeping. One day I need to share how much gatekeeping I've experienced in these efforts! 😭😂

Listening to @itsafronomics.bsky.social discuss #TheDoubleTax in the radio! Kudos Anna!

I love this book! Grateful to receive an early copy. I’ve been savoring it, not wanting it to end. Now that I’ve finished, I’m thinking about making a pilgrimage to visit some of the trees. 🌳

Today's writing session was not flowing & I knew exactly what to do instead, catch up on Inkubator Free Writing Conference ( #CleInk25 ) session "Get Real: Being Vulnerable in Fact and Fiction" w/ @deeshaphilyaw.bsky.social + Kiese Laymon hosted by @literarycleveland.bsky.social Mod by Kenyon Farrow

Congratulations @itsafronomics.bsky.social on launch day for "The Double Tax"!!! Keep soaring, inspiring and informing!

There's another Goodreads giveaway for "When Trees Testify" (published by @henryholtbooks.bsky.social). Enter for a chance to win an ARC!! www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

Almost certainly excellent. Her previous book Lessons from Plants was awesome. Beronda's scholarship is multidisciplinary. She also communicates in microbiology language. Her essay in mSphere is one of my absolute favorite pieces. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

If you haven’t pre-ordered this yet, mash that button! Pre-orders (and library requests) make a huge difference to authors, and help make sure enough books are printed to meet demand.

Pre-ordering makes a huge difference in the life of a book... please think now about who all in your life is going to NEED a copy of this, and get to ordering!! (If you're a friend of mine, and you pre-order this book and don't LOVE it, I will literally refund your money. I am that confident.)

Awesome insights on writing themes, practices & more from @eveewing.bsky.social (pictured upper left) & @imaniperry.bsky.social (upper right) during "Stories We Tell: How History Shapes Us" event with moderator Joy R. Bostic (lower center) for conference convened by @literarycleveland.bsky.social.

Cover of "When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History, and America's Black Botanical Legacy"!!! published by @henryholtbooks.bsky.social. I can't tell you all adequately how proud of & eager I am to share this with the world!!! Coming January 20, 2026 Pre-order NOW: bookshop.org/p/books/when...

"I’m very confused and I am bone-tired. And I know I’m not the only Black person who feels this way." @blklibrarygirl.bsky.social on why she is done "Gentle Parenting White Progressives" in this particular moment & beyond. substack.com/inbox/post/1....

Honored to join Dr. Michael Horowitz on the Radical Cooperation podcast on how higher ed can learn from the natural world. We discussed why silos persist & what they cost us, also how we can move toward systems rooted in collaboration, trust, and shared success. podcasts.apple.com/it/podcast/h...

#WhenTreesTestify loading. New Voices New Rooms 2025 @henryholtbooks.bsky.social My new book coming Jan 2026

oh wow! Beronda Montgomery has a new book! bookshop.org/p/books/when... "a cultural and personal reclamation of Black history and Black botanical mastery, told through the stories of long-lived trees." how "seven trees—as well as the cotton shrub—are intertwined with Black history and culture."

I have a meeting in a few minutes so what am I doing until then? Looking at ARCs. This makes me VERY curious. "How the Word Is Passed meets Braiding Sweetgrass in a cultural and personal reclamation of Black history and Black botanical mastery, told through the stories of long-lived trees."

"Freedom is a contagious disease." -- Honorée Fanonne Jeffers @blklibrarygirl.bsky.social discussing her new book Misbehaving at the Crossroads & radical Black feminism

New @berondam.bsky.social book! Pre-order ✅

Thanks!!!!

Thank you!!!

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 Some exciting news regarding my next book "When Trees Testify" from @publisherswkly.bsky.social's "Fall 2025 Fiction & Nonfiction Preview: Science" www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

Day 2 for #ASMicrobe. Lot's of posters, visiting vendors, meeting new people. Great sessions in the #ASMStudio. Quote of the day "we need to be groundskeeper, not gatekeepers" from the great @berondam.bsky.social @ASMICROBIOLOGY.BSKY.SOCIAL

This sounds AMAZING!! 📚 us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

Some advance copies of my next book "When Trees Testify" have gone out into the world. Release date: January 20, 2026 What a journey it has been thus far, and looking forward to the continuing journey ahead. #WhenTreesTestify #WhenTreesTestifyTheBook

Not a complaint (at all) given the truly disruptive moves of & lives risked & lost due to the reckless & retaliatory current US executive admin, just a note: the disappearance/-ing of websites, resources & more has complicated the copy edits of my next books as endnotes & links have become defunct.

Serendipity or message from the universe: While reviewing copyedits for a chapter in "When Trees Testify" (coming Jan 2026) and specifically a paragraph on the ice cream truck jingle, I started to hear a truck in the distance playing the song in a location abroad where I have never encountered one 🤯

Congratulations @berondam.bsky.social and @rad-institute.bsky.social!

So this happened. So looking forward to 2025-2026 @rad-institute.bsky.social!! www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/news-and-ide...

What an amazing @nationalbook.bsky.social event celebrating my new "literary sister" Ramona Ausubel, winner of 2025 NBF Science + Literature award for her novel "The Last Animal." Thanks MCCNEB host Liz Kay (@lizkay.bsky.social)& NBF's Natalie Green. Amazing celebration of writing & writers!

🎉🎉🎉Congratulations Dr. Maya Shamsid-Deen on a beautiful dissertation defense! 🎉🎉🎉 "The Dynamics of Plant Colonization and Persistence: Roles of Phenotypic and Fungal Symbiosis" www.youtube.com/watch?v=clkI... Also, congratulations on your next phase as Teaching Professor!!! #BlackBotanistsWeek

Full text of "What We Get Wrong about Equity and How It Keeps Us from Achieving Inclusive Excellence" is now available! zeal.kings.edu/zeal/article...

@berondam.bsky.social writes for Zeal about the difference between equality and equity and the relationship to inclusive excellence: zeal.kings.edu/zeal/article...