In today's episode of Good on Wood (*part one of two) we speak to Robert Ellsberg & Nancy Forest about the life and legacy of Jim Forest, lifelong peace activist, contemplative and prolific writer. Our conversation weaves through his early years, his conversion to Catholicism and later to Russian Orthodoxy, his formative relationships with Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, and Dan Berrigan and his participation in the Milwaukee 14 plowshares action for which he spent 13 months in prison. We also discuss Jim’s inner life and his struggle for meaning amid the movement.  

About Robert Ellsberg

Robert Ellsberg is the editor-in-chief and publisher of Orbis Books, where he has worked for 38 years. His friendship with Jim Forest endured for fifty years, including his work editing twelve of Jim's books for Orbis. In his youth, he served (like Jim) as managing editor of The Catholic Worker, and went on to edit six volumes of Dorothy Day's writings, including her diaries and letters. He has also written many books on saints and moral witnesses, including All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets and Witnesses for Our Time and Blessed Among Us (drawn from his daily contributions to Give Us This Day. 

About Nancy Forest 

Nancy Forest is a Dutch-English literary translator living in Alkmaar, the Netherlands. She and Jim Forest were married in 1982, although their friendship started in 1974 when they were both working at the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Nyack, New York. In 1989 they became partners in a business they called Forest-Flier Editorial Services, but their partnership extended far beyond that and included raising children, prayer, reading books and poetry together, editing each other’s work, travel, and trying to make sense of it all. In 2004 Jim was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure and began kidney dialysis. In 2007 Nancy donated a kidney to him. As Jim wrote in his dedication to Nancy in his last book, Eyes of Compassion: Learning from Thich Nhat Hanh, they were “collaborators in just about everything.”

Nancy’s most recently translated books include The Burgundians: A Vanished Empire by Bart Van Loo, and several children’s books: the Popcorn Bob series by Maranke Rinck, Mishka by Edward van de Vendel and Anoush Elman, and My Presentation Today is About the Anaconda by Bibi Dumon. Mishka is a story about a family of refugees, and Anaconda is a book by animals, about animals. Both these books received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist.

jimandnancyforest.com

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES 

Nancy’s obituary for Jim:

https://incommunion.org/2023/04/09/no-borders-remembering-jim-by-nancy-forest/

Robert’s obituary for Jim in the National Catholic Reporter:

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/author-jim-forest-chronicler-giants-day-and-berrigan-strengthened-many

Orbis Books Jim Forest Page:

https://orbisbooks.com/search?q=Jim+Forest&options%5Bprefix%5D=last

Robert’s reflection on his lifelong friendship with Jim: 

https://incommunion.org/2023/05/03/jim-forest-a-pilgrimage-of-friendship-by-robert-ellsberg/

Jim's Flickr page:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/

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Music for this episode provided by John & David from ⁠The Brilliance⁠ & our own Steve Schallert