Join the A Way With Words radio show and podcast co-hosts Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett as they explore the words and phrases connected to climate change. Phoenix Books will be on site for book sales and signing after the program.
About the Speakers
Co-host/co-producer Martha Barnette is the author of reader-friendly books on word origins. She has a background in ancient Greek and Latin, studied Spanish in Costa Rica, and worked as a newspaper reporter for major metropolitan dailies. Raised in the South, she now lives in San Diego, where she’s often found hiking mountain trails and performing with an improv comedy troupe. She’s the author most recently of Friends with Words: Adventures in Languageland, about the joy of language and the power of words to connect us.
Co-host/co-producer Grant Barrett (he/him) is a US lexicographer and linguist specializing in slang and new words. He has helped produce dozens of dictionaries for Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and most recently as the head of lexicography for Dictionary.com, and has authored three books of his own. He’s a voracious reader, knows a fair amount of French and Spanish, and spent years working in the jargon-rich jungles of information technology and journalism. Though born and raised in Missouri, and having been a long-time resident of New York City, Grant now lives in San Diego, California, with his wife, also an editor, linguist, and lexicographer, and their son.
About the Fall Festival 2025
Our Vermont Reads 2025 book, The Light Pirate, raises the question of how we choose to adapt and grow after experiencing climate related crisis and trauma. In a flooding world, Wanda finds solace and hope in building community.
For this year’s Fall Festival, we want to highlight similar stories of hope as Vermont cities, towns, and villages face interrelated, complex problems such as climate change and the housing crisis.
Banner Image Credit: Fabrice Florin, Wikimedia Commons
Please contact us at info@vermonthumanities.org for information on disability services. To request a specific accommodation, contact us at least three weeks prior to the event. Vermont Humanities strives to provide accommodations whenever possible. All event locations are ADA accessible.
