Central Florida Chapter General Meeting – January 15th

🌿 Featured Speaker: Andrew Furman
Finding the Wild in Familiar Places: Suburban Nature, Storytelling, and Florida

We often think of “wild Florida” as something found only in preserves, parks, or far from home—but what if it’s right outside our doors?
This month, we’re excited to welcome Andrew Furman, an English professor at Florida Atlantic University and an acclaimed Florida nature writer. Andrew will speak about his 2025 book, Of Slash Pines and Manatees, a highly selective field guide to suburban wilderness.

Through a series of vivid vignettes, Andrew explores the intersections of everyday life and nature in South Florida—observing slash pines, manatees, foxes, and other neighbors (human and wild alike) that persist alongside development. His work blends personal narrative with environmental reflection, inviting readers to notice, value, and protect the wildness woven into ordinary places.

Positioned in the tradition of place-based writers like John Muir and Wendell Berry, Andrew’s storytelling encourages us to slow down, look closer, and rethink what it means to belong to a landscape—even a suburban one.

📖 About the Speaker
Andrew Furman is a longtime Florida resident and professor of English at Florida Atlantic University. His writing focuses on place, memory, and the relationship between people and the natural world, with Florida serving as both subject and setting. His work offers a thoughtful lens on how conservation, observation, and storytelling intersect in our daily lives.

🧺 Half-Back Raffle – Win Some Cash!
🎟️ Tickets: $1 each or 6 for $5
💰 Winner takes home half the pot, with the other half supporting our chapter’s work.

📅 Thursday, January 15, 2026
🕡 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM
📍 Leu Gardens – Magnolia Room
1920 N Forest Ave, Orlando, FL 32803
Join us for an evening of stories, reflection, and conversation—and leave inspired to notice the wild spaces already shaping your own backyard.