Building a Nest
April 29, 2025 at 12:02AMAt the Los Angeles Review of Books, authors Jenny Odell and Lauren Markham are in conversation after the publication of Markham’s latest book, Immemorial, in which she considers how we use language to memorialize what we’ve lost due to climate change. In this wide-ranging interview about the work of writing, they discuss finding and making connections, making art in a time of crisis, the puzzles of structure, the power of ritual in the process of discovery, and the great privilege and responsibility that comes with being a journalist.
LAUREN MARKHAM: I just got back from Greece on a reporting trip, looking at the impacts of climate change on the olive harvest. And I was there in this olive mill in a place I would never have gone before, learning all this stuff, just feeling how fucking cool it is that I get to do this—that this title of “journalist” has afforded me entry into a place where I can learn something. I have a responsibility to do something with that. This is a stance that I try to hold, and I think you do too: to make a reader feel as though they are learning alongside someone, as opposed to being told something or lectured to. I think it’s so satisfying to be on an intellectual and even ethical quest alongside the writer.
LAUREN MARKHAM: I feel it’s such a beautiful mix of feelings, and quite a hopeful one in terms of climate change. Yes, there will be loss. But not everything must be lost—you know what I mean? How do we inhabit a space of deep grief that is also a recognition of deep beauty? That’s almost what we’re fighting for.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2025/04/28/building-a-nest/
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