FLOW: Philadelphia's Schuylkill River (PB)
"Beth Kephart's Flow is just a sumptuous book — haunting, poetic, lit up with gems of beauty and history. We engorge ourselves on materialism. The legacy of our generation will be our consumerism. But Flow and its exquisite evocation of the Schuylkill River reminds us that nature still trumps everything. Which makes the book all the more beautiful and all the more rare."
—Buzz Bissinger, author of A Prayer for the City and Friday Night Lights
Seven years after it first appeared in hardback, Beth Kephart's elegant, impressionistic Flow remains an integral component of ongoing educational and cultural programs.
On October 14 and 16, Kephart will deliver the keynote addresses on behalf of the Schuylkill’s 2014 River of the Year designation as part of the Schuylkill River Heritage Area celebration at Montgomery County Community College and Trinity Urban Life Center.
On November 8th, she’ll appear at the Musehouse Writing Retreat in the Woods, teaching Flow as part of a memoir workshop.
And also In November she’ll deliver the annual keynote to the Montgomery County Historical Society.
Meanwhile, Flow is the required 2014 seventh grade read at St. Albans School in Washington, DC, and is a core element in the recently announced William Penn Foundation-funded program designed to “improve environmental education in Philadelphia middle schools,” created by Fairmount Water Works.
Read more here.
The Schuylkill River — the name in Dutch means "hidden creek" — courses many miles, turning through Philadelphia before it yields to the Delaware. "I am this wide. I am this deep. A tad voluptuous, but only in places," writes Beth Kephart, capturing the voice of this natural resource in Flow.
An award-winning author, Kephart's elegant, impressionistic story of the Schuylkill navigates the beating heart of this magnificent water source. Readers are invited to flow through time-from the colonial era and Ben Franklin's death through episodes of Yellow Fever and the Winter of 1872, when the river froze over-to the present day. Readers will feel the silt of the Schuylkill's banks, swim with its perch and catfish, and cruise-or scull-downstream, from Reading to Valley Forge to the Water Works outside center city.
Flow's lush narrative is peppered with lovely, black and white photographs and illustrations depicting the river's history, its people, and its gorgeous vistas. Written with wisdom and with awe for one of the oldest friends of all Philadelphians, Flow is a perfect book for reading while the ice melts, and for slipping in your bag for your own visit to the Schuylkill.
Originally published by Temple University Press in hardcover in 2007, Flow has now been released as an affordable paperback. Beloved by Philadelphians, introduced into classroom settings both in its birthplace city and elsewhere, Flow will be featured at a number of upcoming events, listed below.
To hear Kephart speak about her work as a teacher who uses the voice of the river to inspire others, listen to this podcast, of my keynote address at the Bank Street College of Education, 9 November 2013.
To read about Kephart's educational work with children of the Fairmount Water Works program, Project FLOW, please go here.
To see Temple University's catalog, go here.
Reviews
"Only a poet and writer of Beth Kephart's lyric talent could give us a voice worthy of the great Schuylkill River. We have waited eons to hear the story she (and the river is a 'she') tells us, and Flow is worth the wait: Here is a song enriched with falling leaves and ascending souls; a poem composed of time and wind, fish and flotsam; and a riveting narrative of some of America's greatest heroes as well as some of our history's worst mistakes. Flow is seductive, thrilling, irresistible, life-changing. You cannot help but be swept away."
—Sy Montgomery, author of The Journey of the Pink Dolphins and The Good, Good Pig
"Kephart...provides an intimate meditation on the Schuylkill’s story."
—Philadelphia Style
"In this autobiographical treatment, Kephart uses short lyrical essays and black-and-white photographs to let the Schuylkill River recount its life, it’s origin in creation and geography, its place in history, the famous personalities who graced its shores and crossed its water and its place in the hearts of Philadelphians who rely on it for water, recreation and solace."
—The Patriot-News
"Flow is a poetic meditation on the Schuylkill River’s place in Philadelphia’s history, transporting you back in time."
—Filmbill
"In her new book, Devon’s Beth Kephart poeticizes Philadelphia through the keen observations of its eldest resident, the Schuylkill River, which has long served as the city’s source of water, power, industry, and beauty. Flow adapts the river’s motion, winding past local events and retelling them with an imaginative and poignant voice."
—Main Line Today
"Kephart's well-researched essays provide historical nuance...a prescient contemporary account of the city's history. But it is the narrative poetry, in the taut female voice of the river, which makes this a book to descend into, slowly, with all senses at the ready....Kephart is a master not only of descriptive memory, but of constructing an existential vocabulary."
—The Philadelphia City Paper
"[I]t goes proudly on your coffee table to advertise your intelligent indie reading."
—aroundphilly.com
"I’ll see the Schuylkill differently on my ride home tonight, and maybe it’ll be a closer friend now."
—UWISHUNU
"From the first footsteps of Native Americans, to wars, progress, industrialization, and beyond, the river serves up commentary with a mix of plain-spoken facts, dramatic embellishments and historical illustrations. The result is an engrossing and unusual take on the area."
—Arrive
"An admirer transforms her glimpses of the life of the Schuylkill — once wild then pressed into human service, and now rediscovered for its remnant beauty— into spare prose that is often moving, whether or not you live in Philly."
—Orion
"In this autobiographical treatment, Kephart uses short lyrical essays and black-and-white photographs to let the Schuylkill River recount its life, its origin in creation and geography, it’s place in history, the famous personalities who graced its shores and crossed its water and its place in the hearts of Philadelphians who rely on it for water, recreation and solace."
—The Patriot-News
"I can’t imagine a more beautiful book about a river than Flow."
—University City Review
“Kephart gives the Schuylkill a voice, a memory, a melancholic sensibility. She has given us a finely-tuned and moving work of art, an exquisite book of loss and wanting. In 76 narrative poems and nearly as many short historical essays, Kephart returns the ‘hidden river’ to its place in our hearts.”
—Context
"What a gem!... I could not have asked for a more beautifully written, poetic and personal story of the Schuylkill River.... You may want to read this during the summer, when you can relax and absorb its powerful tale."
—St. Albans Lower School blog
Upcoming Events
October 14, 7 PM
River of the Year Keynote
Schuylkill River Heritage Area
Montgomery County Community College West Campus
Community Room
October 16, 7 PM
River of the Year Keynote
Schuylkill River Heritage Area
Trinity Urban Life Center
Philadelphia, PA
November 8, 2014, 10:00 AM
Musehouse Writing Retreat in the Woods
Memoir Workshop
The Schuylkill Center
Philadelphia, PA
November 15, 2014
Luncheon Keynote
Montgomery County Historical Society
(private function)
April 10, 2015
Talking about FLOW, the required 7th grade read
St. Albans School
Washington, DC
April 23, 2015
Let Us Be Honest
A New Directions in Writing Memoir Workshop
Residence Inn
Pentagon City, VA
