A Resilient Planet Needs Fungi Now: The Secret Lives of Fungi
Fungi are weird, fungi are cool, and fungi are beautiful. But how much do we really know about them? For starters, they do much more than just rot things. They control pretty much all life on our planet and are everywhere. Britt Bunyard’s lecture will present fascinating stories and beautiful photos of amazing fungi featured in his latest book. Discover the crazy, wonderful life that goes on all around us, mostly hidden in plain sight. For general audiences, no knowledge of mycology is required, and all levels of mycological questions are encouraged for the Q&A. This lecture is based on features from Bunyard’s new book, The Lives of Fungi, A Natural History of Our Planet’s Decomposers.
Britt Bunyard, PhD, is the founder, Publisher, and Editor-in-Chief of the mycology journal Fungi, in
print since 2008. Britt is a former university professor and has published over 100 academic and popular
science papers. He has served as an editor for mycological and entomological research journals, and
mushroom guide books.
A popular evangelizer on all things fungal, Britt has given more than 250 invited lectures to
academic and popular audiences across North America and beyond. He has been featured on the BBC
World Service’s Newshour, NPR’s All Things Considered, PBS’s NOVA and Wisconsin Foodie
television programs; and interviewed or quoted in Discover magazine, The Atlantic, National
Geographic, Vox, Vogue, Forbes, Saveur, Eating Well, Hobby Farm, Women’s World, and other
magazines and newspapers.
Britt has collected fungi and lectured throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia.
Annually, he leads mycological expeditions throughout the world. One such expedition, was the subject
of a documentary film “Look Down Not Up” (2022), produced by documentary filmmakers Alok Siddhi
Tuladhar and Dusty Shiva Panthi of Kathmandu, Nepal.
Britt has authored several books, including The Little Book of Fungi (2024; Princeton University
Press), Lives of the Fungi (2022; Princeton University Press), The Beginner’s Guide to Mushrooms
(2021; Quarry Books), Amanitas of North America (2020; The Fungi Press), and Mushrooms and
Macrofungi of Ohio and Midwestern States (2012; The Ohio State University Press).
Britt has served as Executive Director of the Telluride Mushroom Festival since 2014. In 2021
he was awarded the Gary Lincoff Award “For Contributions to Amateur Mycology,” by the North
American Mycological Association—NAMA’s most prestigious honor for American mycologists.
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