BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-// - ECPv4.6.19//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://ukrainianinstitute.org
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for 
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251015T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251015T203000
DTSTAMP:20260510T210131
CREATED:20250927T223201Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250929T212042Z
UID:44764-1760553000-1760560200@ukrainianinstitute.org
SUMMARY:Books at the Institute
DESCRIPTION:Books at the Institute presents an evening with Laura Spinney\, bestselling science journalist\, novelist\, and non-fiction writer\, as she discusses her latest book\, Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global. \nWednesday\, October 15\, 2025 at 6:30 p.m.\n2 East 79th Street\, New York\, NY 10075 \nMs. Spinney will be joined in conversation by Maria Sonevytsky.  \n Book signing and light reception to follow. \nGeneral admission: $20 / UIA Friends: $15 / UIA Members: $10 \n  \nTICKETS\n  \nOne ancient language transformed our world. This is its story. \nStar. Stjarna. Stare … Daughter. Duhitár. Dustr. Dukte. \nAcross thousands of miles\, people look up at the night sky or call to their children\, and in their words we hear the faint resonance of a shared past. English\, Icelandic\, Sanskrit\, Armenian\, Lithuanian\, Persian — languages that seem worlds apart — are in fact branches of the same immense family. All trace their lineage back to a single\, long-vanished tongue: Proto-Indo-European (PIE). \nFive millennia ago\, as the last ice age receded\, this ancestral language burst from its cradle between Europe and Asia in a kind of Big Bang\, fragmenting as it spread east and west. Its final speaker died thousands of years ago\, yet echoes of Proto-Indo-European endure — not only in the words we speak today but in some of humanity’s greatest literary works\, from the Rig Veda and Dante’s Inferno to the love poetry of Rumi and even The Lord of the Rings. \nIn Proto\, acclaimed journalist Laura Spinney sets out to unravel this extraordinary odyssey. She retraces the migrations that carried Indo-European speech across continents: along the Caucasus and the Silk Roads\, through the Hindu Kush and across the steppe. With her\, we walk in the footsteps of nomads and monks\, warriors and kings — the ancient peoples who seeded these languages far and wide. In the present\, Spinney encounters the linguists\, archaeologists\, and geneticists who are piecing together this lost world. Their discoveries reveal not only how language shaped civilization\, but also offer vital lessons for our own era\, when people — and their words — are once again on the move. \nProto is a revelatory portrait of world history in its own words. \n  \nWhat others are saying about Proto: \n“The story of how one language left the steppes of Ukraine and became the earth’s dominant language family has become clearer and more exciting than ever before. Hooray for a book where the author’s curiosity\, diligence\, and literary craft gets it all down in what will stand as the go-to source for a generation.” — John McWhorter\, author of The Language Hoax \n“The fascinating story of the ancient words that survive in the mouths of billions of speakers today.” — Henry Oliver\, The Guardian \n“A compelling portrait of a people thought lost to time … a remarkable account of humanity’s quest to rediscover its ancient origins.” — The Wall Street Journal \n“An enormously refreshing and readable history of worlds that were physically far apart but\, in a sense\, spoke with a single voice.” — David Abulafia\, Literary Review \nProto was reviewed in The Economist\, The Guardian\, New Scientist\, Slate\, Times Literary Supplement\, The Wall Street Journal\, and The Washington Post\, and discussed on podcasts New Books Network and Unsupervised Learning. Financial Times named Proto as a Best Summer Book of 2025 (literary non-fiction). \n  \nLaura Spinney is a writer and science journalist. Her writing on science has appeared in The Guardian\, The Economist\, Nature and National Geographic\, among others. She is the author of two novels\, The Doctor (2001) and The Quick(2007)\, and a collection of oral history\, Rue Centrale (2013). Her bestselling non-fiction account of the 1918 flu pandemic\, Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World (2017)\, was translated into more than 20 languages. Her latest book\, Proto: How Once Ancient Language Went Global\, the story of the Indo-European languages\, appeared in 2025. She lives in Paris. \nMaria Sonevytsky is the author of Wild Music: Sound and Sovereignty in Ukraine (2019)\, Vopli Vidopliassova’s Tantsi (2023)\, and a forthcoming book on Soviet children’s musical culture at the Kyiv Palace of Pioneers in addition to numerous articles. She is a professor of Anthropology and Music at Bard College in the Hudson Valley of New York. As a musician\, she has performed in venues ranging from the Metropolitan Museum of Art\, punk cafés in Kyoto\, to GogolFest in Kyiv. \n…………………… \nTo have a copy of the book signed\, Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global will be available for purchase ($29.95) at the Ukrainian Institute of America the evening of the event. \nBy purchasing a book from the UIA\, you are supporting its continued cultural and educational programming and the further enjoyment of its unique events by our friends and community along New York’s Museum Mile. \nFor further information: Please contact the Ukrainian Institute of America at (212) 288-8660 or mail@ukrainianinstitute.org. \nAuthor photo by Dominique Cabrelli. All rights reserved. \n…………………… \nTitle: Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global\nAuthor: Laura Spinney\nPublisher: Bloomsbury Publishing (May 13\, 2025)\nHardcover: 352 pages\nISBN-10: 1639732586\nISBN-13:  978-1639732586\nItem Weight: 1.25 pounds\nDimensions: 6.5 x 1.15 x 9.5 inches \n \nBooks at the Institute
URL:https://ukrainianinstitute.org/event/2025-10-15-books-spinney-proto/
CATEGORIES:Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ukrainianinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Proto_UIA-webpage-and-email-graphic-3-Medium.jpeg
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR