You Are a Sacred Place: Visual Poems for Living in Climate Crisis

“Madeleine Jubilee Saito has given us a singular gift. At once gentle and piercing, spare and profound, her artistry breaks open hearts, releasing rivers of love for what is — and grief for what is already lost." — NAOMI KLEIN, New York Times bestselling author of Doppelganger.

In her debut collection of comics, artist and climate activist Madeleine Jubilee Saito offers a quietly radical message of hope. 

Framed as a letter in response to a loved one’s pain, this series of ethereal vignettes takes readers on a journey from seemingly inescapable isolation and despair, through grief and rage, toward the hope of community and connection.
 
Drawing on her faith as well as the tradition of climate justice, Saito reminds readers that if we’re going to challenge fossil fuel capitalism, we must first imagine what lies beyond it: The beauty and joy of a healed world.

"We will only walk into a healing ecological future if we learn to metabolize our grief, hold space in our hearts for hope, and live out of our love for the world. This book is a gift along the path." — Krista Tippett, Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, National Humanities Medalist, and New York Times bestselling author

"Saito reached a hand into some of my very own darkest climate crisis-induced depressive thoughts and drew me gently back into the light. We are all part of this natural world, and we are meant to be here, and it is good that we are here. Those things can be hard to remember sometimes, but these delicate comics underline their truth." — Maia Kobabe, author and illustrator of GENDER QUEER: A MEMOIR

"In this resonant book of visual poems, Madeleine Jubilee Saito tends to the great mysteries of longing and anxiety that sit between our tendons in these deeply uncertain times. She reminds us of what we've forgotten: That God is omnipresent, and to find reprieve in remembering that there was an earth before us and there will be one after us. You Are a Sacred Place is a beautiful, potent, and hopeful book." — Fariha Róisín, author of HOW TO CURE A GHOST, WHO IS WELLNESS FOR?, and SURVIVAL TAKES A WILD IMAGINATION

"In times of despair, this book is a timeless testament to the quiet rituals of care that dare to imagine a world beyond capitalism." — Kaitlin Chan, author of the 2024 Cartoonist Studio Prize finalist ERIC'S SISTER

"A series of perfect four-panel comics that build toward something vast and beautiful." — Andrew White, cartoonist and author of SPRING TIDES

"Using a sort of visual 4/4 time signature, Madeleine Jubilee Saito's You Are a Sacred Place is a heartfelt song about the state of our planet. In gentle watercolors and sparse colors, Saito sings to us about love, loss, hope, and our need for one another." — Aidan Koch, artist and graphic novelist, author of SPIRAL AND OTHER STORIES