On the night of Thursday, Feb. 12, environmental writer Rick Bass delivered the 2026 Mackey Chair reading. Bass’s Mackey Chair reading succeeded that of another environmental writer, Janisse Ray, who held the Mackey Chair in 2025.
However, this is not Bass’s first time gracing the stage and classroom at Beloit College. Bass was also the Mackey Chair in 1993, and was at the time the fourth author to hold that accomplishment.
Chris Fink, head of the Creative Writing department at Beloit College, opened with a welcome to all in attendance. This year’s reading took place right before Valentine’s Day. “I wore pink,” Fink posited. “I believe in love.” He went on to retell the story of Bill and Lois Mackey’s lasting romance and their generous donation toward their alma mater.
Fink went on to detail Bass’s career as a profound environmentalist. “Each sentence brims with vivid olfactory details and bucolic specificity,” added Cian McKeown’27, a student of Bass’s Mackey Chair course this semester. “The whole nature exists and can be visualized within his circumfluent prose.”
“Bass’s language brings you into the feeling of the universe he is painting for us,” said Ella Silva’26, a student taking an environmental writing course this semester, in reference to Bass’s 2024 essay collection “With Every Great Breath.” “He poetically and conversationally immerses us in the beauty and tragedy of the nature of our world.”
With only six books written when Bass originally became the Mackey Chair, Fink joked, “You would’ve thought he would’ve retired 33 years ago after reaching the peak of literary success… being the Mackey Chair.” Since his first Mackey Chair reading, Bass has published 38 books, his most recent publication being “Wrecking Ball: Race, Friendship, God and Football.”
Fink invited Bass up on stage, and Bass began recounting his days in Beloit over 30 years ago, namely how his daughter Lowry learned to walk here. He told the audience, “We traffic in stories and emotions… Stories are how we move through the world.” Within his presentation, Bass wanted to have a living, breathing piece of the forest to tell the world of its rich history.
That piece of wood transformed into what Fink and Bass referred to as “the magical guitar.” Bass then presented a video about the making of the guitar. It was built from the trees in the Yaak Valley, near Bass’ home in Montana. Every note that is played on the guitar is etched into the wood that has been around for hundreds of years.
Bass brought that guitar to the reading for Beloit Public Library director Nick Dimassis. Dimassis stepped on stage to perform a piece based on Fink’s book “Farmer’s Almanac.” He sang about one of the characters, Barnyard Billy, a young baseball phenom needed to choose between life on the farm or the field. The song was catchy and had the audience’s full attention, which made this year’s reading even more unique.
Beloit, according to Bass, is unlike anywhere else he’s been. For one thing, he said, everyone here holds the door for each other and smiles.
Bass also recounted his visit to the environmental humanities class taught by Tamara Ketabgain, who has been a professor at Beloit College for over twenty years.. He had expected to “Answer if I write with a pen or a pencil… I’m still reeling from the academic rigor.” Bass c admitted that the class was draining. “You answer a question, and then they ask another, and then another.”
Bass read the crowd a story from his collection “The Traveling Feast: On the Road and at the Table with My Heroes.” The story he shared was about smuggling elk backstrap, which he claims is the best cut of elk, to David Sedaris’s house in Sussex. He described the experience of crossing the border with the meat, transporting it to Sussex, and cooking for his daughter and friends, preparing food for the people he loves — the joy of showing his favorite cut of elk to Sedaris, his daughter’s idol, and watching them interact over dinner.
Inciting chuckles and laughs from the crowd during the reading, and thoughtfully answering questions after he was done, Bass truly brought it all full circle by returning to Beloit College Mackey Chair. He has yet again inspired his audience to appreciate the environment around us and learn from our natural surroundings.
Featured image: Open Edition Journals
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