Mycology, Decay, and Metaphors for Community: A Deep Dive with T. Kingfisher and Daniel Winkler
September 24 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
From fungus to slime molds, nature has always held lessons for us in collapse, renewal, and connection—sometimes sticky, sometimes horrifying, always a little weird. Author T. Kingfisher (What Moves the Dead) and Daniel Winkler join Clarion West’s Deep Dives conversation series on the topic of Mycology, Decay, and Metaphors for Community, moderated by Dominica Phetteplace
ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS
Ursula Vernon, aka T. Kingfisher is the author and illustrator of far more projects than is probably healthy. She has written over fifty novels for both children and adults, an epic webcomic called “Digger” and various short stories and other odds and ends.
The daughter of an artist, she spent her youth attempting to rebel, but eventually succumbed to the siren song of paint (although not before getting a degree in anthropology.) Ursula grew up in Oregon and Arizona, went to college at Macalester College in Minnesota, and stayed there for ten years, until she finally learned to drive in deep snow and was obligated to leave the state.
Having moved across the country several times, she eventually settled in New Mexico, where she works full-time as an artist and creator of oddities. She lives with her husband, her garden and his chickens.
Daniel Winkler grew up collecting and eating wild mushrooms in the Alps and is sharing his enthusiasm as a mushroom educator, photographer and guide. The Puget Sound Mycological Society, which he joined in 1996, was instrumental in exposing Daniel to mycology and inspiring him to bend his career towards mushrooms. Daniel served on the PSMS board, as vice president and is spearheading PSMS’s Bridle Trails State Park Funga study. Daniel published his “Fruits of the Forest – Field Guide to Pacific Northwest Edible Mushrooms” (available at mushroaming.com), a product of a life time of mushroom hunting, the last twenty-nine years in the PNW. Previously, he published a series of fold-out field guides: Edible Mushrooms of the PNW, Edibles of California (both Harbour Publishing), Amazon Mushrooms, and Medicinal Mushrooms of North America, as well as MycoCards “Boletes of Western North America”. As an ecologist and geographer Daniel focused on High Asia towards researching Tibet’s enormous fungal economy. His ethno-mycological Cordyceps research has been featured in National Geographic, New York Times, The Economist, NPR, BBC World Service, etc. In the last decade, Daniel started exploring neotropical fungi. With his travel agency MushRoaming Daniel is organizing mushroom focused eco-adventures since 2007, current destinations are Bhutan and Colombia.
Dominica Phetteplace attended Clarion West in 2007 and currently sits on the board of directors. She is a writer and futurist and her work has been featured in publications such as Clarkesworld, Asimov’s, Analog, Lightspeed, Uncanny and many others. She appears on Fiction Science, a podcast she cohosts with Alan Boyle. She is the author of Sword & Spore, a fungal Arthurian novelette featured in Reactor.
TICKETS
General Admission: Join us for the conversation starting at 7pm PT and the book signing to follow!
VIP: As a VIP ticketholder, you’ll add to your experience a VIP gift bag, priority seating and book signing, as well as access to the pre-event reception at 6pm featuring an intimate meet-and-greet with our speakers.
Virtual: Watch the conversation from anywhere and participate in the Q&A! Registration is required.
The Deep Dives conversation series is a fundraiser for Clarion West! Your ticket purchases support all of our programming, helping us continue to reach and serve bright new voices in speculative fiction.
About Deep Dives
Clarion West’s Deep Dives series places an author of speculative fiction in a moderated conversation with a scientist or other expert in subject matter relevant to the author’s work. The goal is to contextualize the fantastic in ways that relate to our shared reality, and help guide media literacy of speculative literature. The series itself is our fall fundraiser in support of Clarion West’s programming and each event includes a VIP reception, conversation, and book signing for the featured authors. The theme for 2026 is “Futures Less Dystopian.”
The Deep Dives conversation series is made possible in part by support from:
