Dear friends,

Spring is gloriously abloom here, on this launch date for one long listening—and hatch day for four baby falcons whose campanile home is just visible from my neighborhood when the six miles between us is clear.

I'm not a birder, but several years into piecing together the manuscript that would become one long listening, I realized birds were everywhere in it, from a Siberian crane lost/found in Taiwan, to museum-going pigeons in Phnom Penh, to a pious chicken in Chiang Mai, to hungry hummingbirds in Oregon. Much to my delight, the crane has found its way onto a tote bag that my publisher, North Atlantic Books, is offering for those who've preordered the book (or who order it in the next couple days!) and fill out this short form. I hope the book can echo the bag: in beauty, in usefulness. 

I'll keep this letter brief, as I'm preparing for tonight's online book launch with Paula Arai at 5pm PT / 8pm ET. Dr. Arai has graciously invited me to do the event at her home in San Francisco, a peaceful oasis that (he)artfully embodies the lessons in her forthcoming book The Little Book of Zen Healing. Being there is like entering the pages of Jenny Odell's latest book, Saving Time, which I've been savoring in slow sips along with Bhikkhu Analayo's Daughters of the Buddha. 

For those who can't make it to our slowing-down-the-time conversation, it'd be wonderful to see you at one of the other book events over these next couple months, particularly the in-person gatherings at Green Apple Books on the Park in San Francisco on April 12th (with Trent Walker), Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle on April 25th (with Jane Wong), and the Bay Area Book Festival in Berkeley on May 6th (with Faith Adiele). As I prepare to leave the West Coast for the Midwest this summer, I'm comforted by the memory of a Siberian crane, far from its origins, finding friendship and refuge in unexpected places.

May this season of blossoming and transitions—with all its excitement and growing pains—hatch what you cherish. Thank you for reading, for listening, and for being part of one long listening's becoming-into-the-world. 

With gratitude,

~Chenxing