Welcome to the Ape House

A A A Comments By Jef Otte Thursday, Sep 30 2010

For her latest book, Ape House, author Sara Gruen spent a lot of time hanging out with the bonobos at the Great Ape Trust, an Iowa research facility devoted to understanding the past and future of culture, language and intelligence by studying apes. The six bonobos there communicate with humans, via American Sign Language, among other methods.

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“They don’t let you in easily, because a lot of people want to see them. It’s not a zoo; they’re not on display, they’re not trained seals,” says Gruen, who “jumped through a lot of flaming hoops” to get there. But the final step was the approval of the apes themselves. For that, Gruen brought presents. “I brought a big bag of stuff,” she recounts. “It worked.” Spending time with the apes was integral to writing her book: Ape House follows the lives of a colony of similar but fictional apes after the clinic where they live is firebombed — and the reality-show media circus that follows. Spend time with Gruen tonight at the Tattered Cover LoDo, 1628 16th Street, where she’ll read and discuss her book beginning at 7:30 p.m. For more information, call 303-436-1070 or go to www.tatteredcover.com.
Wed., Oct. 6, 7:30 p.m., 2010

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