An evening with Sy Montgomery

2026 WHOI Ocean and Climate Outreach Series presented by the Yawkey Foundation

An evening with

Sy Montgomery

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

5:00pm-7:00pm

Redfield Auditorium

45 Water Street

Woods Hole, MA

This event is free and open to the public.

Registration is required to reserve your seat!

We have reached capacity for this event - please join the waitlist and you will be notified if a spot opens up. Thank you for your interest!

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Photo by the New England Aquarium

Join us for an evening with bestselling author, Sy Montgomery

While doing research for articles, films, and her 38 books for adults and children, Sy has been chased by an angry silverback gorilla in Rwanda, hunted by a tiger in India, and swum with piranhas, electric eels and pink dolphins in the Amazon. Her work has taken her from the cloud forest of Papua New Guinea (for a book on tree kangaroos) to the Altai Mountains of the Gobi (for another on snow leopards.)

For The Soul of an Octopus (a National Book Award finalist) she befriended octopuses at the New England aquarium and scuba dived and snorkeled with wild octopuses in Mexico and French Polynesia. For the follow-up, Secrets of the Octopus, Sy returned to the species she knows and loves, offering current and compassionate stories about the scientists on the front lines of octopus research and conservation.

In her most recent national bestseller for adults, Of Time and Turtles, she befriended a 42-pound wild snapping turtle named Fire Chief, who shows his extraordinary trust by allowing her to feed him by hand.

A reception and book signing will follow the formal presentation.

Books will be available for purchase at the event, or in advance through Eight Cousins Bookstore.

You may bring your personal copies to be signed.

This event is free and open to the public - please RSVP to reserve your seat today!

Add To Waitlist

Photos below courtesy of Sy Montgomery. Credits: David Scheel and Amy Kunze.

Location & Date

Redfield Auditorium

45 Water St
Woods Hole, MA

June

22

,

2023

5:00pm

Photos provided by Sy Montgomery

Sy communes with a Pacific Day Octopus in Moorea: credit David Scheel

Sy and Cleo, a Giant Pacific Octopus at Oregon Coast Aquarium. Photo by Amy Kunze.

About the author

Sy Montgomery

While doing research for articles, films, and her 38 books for adults and children, Sy has been chased by an angry silverback gorilla in Rwanda, hunted by a tiger in India, and swum with piranhas, electric eels and pink dolphins in the Amazon. Her work has taken her from the cloud forest of Papua New Guinea (for a book on tree kangaroos) to the Altai Mountains of the Gobi (for another on snow leopards.) For The Soul of an Octopus (a National Book Award finalist) she befriended octopuses at the New England aquarium and scuba dived and snorkeled with wild octopuses in Mexico and French Polynesia. For the follow-up, Secrets of the Octopus, Sy returned to the species she knows and loves, offering current and compassionate stories about the scientists on the front lines of octopus research and conservation. In her most recent national bestseller for adults, Of Time and Turtles, she befriended a 42-pound wild snapping turtle named Fire Chief, who shows his extraordinary trust by allowing her to feed him by hand.

Featuring

WHOI Scientist Amy Apprill

Amy Apprill is a microbial ecologist at WHOI. Her research focuses on the importance of microorganisms to the health of sensitive ocean animals and ecosystems, including whales and coral reefs.

She is developing microbiomes as health diagnostic tools for coral reefs and marine mammals, and brings unique approaches to her field work. Examples of her approach and research include using drones to examine the upper respiratory microbiome of large whales, bringing the first foreign vessel into the pristine coral reefs of Cuba for interdisciplinary studies and applying genomic sequencing at sea for coral disease diagnostics. Apprill is an avid SCUBA diver and has brought her research approach to worldwide reefs.

Musical Guest Chad Cannon

Chad Cannon is a composer and violinist with a decade of experience working in film/TV/videogames, mainly documentaries. Recent credits include the Oscar-winning Netflix documentary American Factory, the BAFTA-winning PlayStation game Ghost of Tsushima, and the Peabody Award-winning HBO documentary Night is Not Eternal.

Chad studied at Harvard and Juilliard and runs Asia-America New Music Institute (AANMI), which produces cultural exchange concerts between Asia and the US. Chad is fluent in Japanese, is a US-Japan Leadership Program Fellow, recently got into scuba diving, and swims with the US Masters Swimming team at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles.

Moderator Richard Vevers

Richard Vevers is the Director of Room 71 at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

His work has been featured in over 10,000 media articles and numerous books and documentaries.

Richard played the lead role in the Emmy Award-winning documentary Chasing Coral on Netflix, which exposed the devastating effects of climate change on coral reefs. Overall, his work has resulted in over $200 million in funding for ocean science and conservation initiatives, particularly in the protection of coral reefs, through projects such as 50 Reefs.

Peter de Menocal

WHOI President

and Director

Peter is WHOI’s eleventh President and Director. He is an oceanographer and paleoclimatologist. Prior to joining WHOI, Peter founded Columbia University’s Center For Climate And Life – a research accelerator that supports and trains the next generation of Earth scientists.

Véronique LaCapra

WHOI Director of

Special Projects

Véronique is a writer, editor, and event host who manages, plans, and executes projects that range from ghost-writing for senior leadership to hosting WHOI’s online public event series “Ocean Encounters.” She is a former public radio science reporter and holds a Ph.D. in biogeochemistry.

VENUE

This event is free and open to the public, please RSVP to reserve your seat today!

For more events in this series

visit events.whoi.edu/yawkeyseries

Questions?

contact Dana Mock-Muñoz de Luna at dmock@whoi.edu

The Yawkey Foundation is committed to continuing the legacy of Tom Yawkey and Jean Yawkey by making significant and positive impacts on the quality of life for children, families, and underserved individuals in the places that the Yawkeys called home, Eastern Massachusetts and Georgetown County, South Carolina.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is dedicated to advancing knowledge of the ocean and its connection with the Earth system through a sustained commitment to excellence in science, engineering, and education, and to the application of this knowledge to problems facing society.

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

5:00-7:00pm

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