Cultural Entomology
The Insect Epiphany: How our six-legged allies have shaped human culture, beliefs, stories, and survival.
Saturday, June 13, 2026; 7 pm - 9 pm
at the Appalachian Forest Museum
$20/person
Please note: The Saturday evening lecture is already included in the full weekend registration. Purchase ONLY if you are not attending the full weekend event.
Dr. Barrett Klein is not simply an insect expert. He is one of those rare people who can completely reawaken a sense of wonder in others. Through humor, storytelling, science, art, and sheer contagious curiosity, Barrett reveals a hidden universe that most of us walk past every single day. By the end of the evening, beetles, bees, moths, ants, flies, and other tiny lives will no longer seem small or distant - but astonishingly connected to our own human story.
This special presentation will center around his acclaimed book, The Insect Epiphany: How Our Six-Legged Allies Shape Human Culture, a mind-expanding exploration of how insects have influenced our music, mythology, architecture, fashion, technology, spirituality, food systems, creativity, and imagination for thousands of years.
And perhaps most importantly - how they still can!
Barrett has an almost magical ability to dissolve the imagined boundary between humans and the rest of life. His work invites us back into relationship, back into awe, and back into the great community of living things we so often forget we belong to. People travel across the country to learn from Barrett Klein, and we are still a little stunned that he will be here with us in the hills of Appalachia for an entire weekend devoted to curiosity, play, science, art, and the incredible world of insects.
Come spend an evening with us celebrating the tiny creatures who quietly hold the world together.
Dr. Barrett Klein
Barrett Klein investigates mysteries of sleep in societies of insects, creates entomo-art, and is ever on the search for curious connections that bind our lives with our six-legged allies. Barrett studied entomology at Cornell University and the University of Arizona, fabricated natural history exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History, worked with honey bees for his PhD at the University of Texas at Austin, and spearheaded the Pupating Lab at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse. He celebrates biodiversity and the intersection of science and art, and believes fully that embracing the beauty of insects can transform our lives and our world. He is the author of The Insect Epiphany: How Our Six-Legged Allies Shape Human Culture, and is working on a second book, Sleep Across the Animal Kingdom. For links to his science, art, TEDx talk and more, feel free to visit www.pupating.org.