Monday, February 23 2026 at 6PM
Scuppernong Books
304 S. Elm St.
Greensboro, NC 27401
Veteran organizer Eileen Flanagan weaves together inspiring stories of grassroots organizing against the huge companies most responsible for climate change. As heat waves, wildfires, storms, and floods become ever more deadly and widespread, the book shows that ordinary people can build powerful movements for change when they find common ground and take action together. Common Ground has been endorsed by globally known climate leaders and academics, as well as Indigenous and other frontline leaders.
Eileen Flanagan is an award-winning author, speaker, and leader of spiritually-grounded activism. She has confronted corporate CEOs, prayed in their lobbies, and been arrested alongside Indigenous water protectors, interfaith clergy, and fellow Quakers. With Earth Quaker Action Team, she has played key leadership roles in three climate campaigns, including pressuring PNC Bank to pause its financing of mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia. With Choose Democracy, she has helped tens of thousands of people learn peacekeeping skills and nonviolent strategies for change. The first in her Irish working-class family to go to college, she earned a BA from Duke and an MA from Yale.
Elizabeth Kostova holds a B.A. in British Studies from Yale and an M.F.A. in creative writing (fiction) from the University of Michigan. She is the author of three novels--The Historian, The Swan Thieves, and The Shadow Land--all of which involve the subject of historical research. Her fourth novel, Mystery Play, will be published in 2026. Her work has been translated into 40 languages, and The Historian received Quill and American Bookseller Awards. It was also the first novel in American publishing history to debut at #1 on the NYT bestseller list. Kostova’s short fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in such periodicals and anthologies as Mississippi Review, Poets & Writers Magazine, The Best American Poetry, and Michigan Quarterly Review. Kostova reads, teaches, and lectures internationally and is co-founder of the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation (www.ekf.bg), based in Bulgaria. She lives in Asheville, where she is working on post-hurricane relief and serves on the board of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Association.