The Universe in Verse: 15 Portals to Wonder Through Science and Poetry By Maria Popova Illustrations by Ofra Amit Storey Publishing, 2024 If books are medicine, The Universe in Verse by Maria Popova is a cure-all. In a scant 100 pages, it demands nothing but your loving attention, and in return, it feeds your battered …
Chad Hanson’s gorgeous book The Wild Horse Effect: Awe, Well-Being, and the Transformative Power of Nature combines beautiful imagery of the West and wild horses with reflections on mindfulness, nature, and the science of awe. Sociologist and photographer Hanson shows how “the wild horse effect”—witnessing these majestic wild animals in their natural environment—can evoke our …
Christina Lynch’s Pony Confidential is a light, highly readable mystery co-narrated by murder suspect Penny and her childhood pet, Pony, who comes to her rescue despite his lingering resentment that Penny sold him when he was young. When Penny is arrested and extradited for a murder she allegedly committed in New York State when she was twelve …
The Readers Write section in The Sun is one of the most-read sections of this popular magazine. I’m happy to pass along an opportunity that I suspect will resonate with many readers of EcoLit Books: Wild AnimalsMaybe bears or coyotes roam your backyard, or maybe the closest you get to wildlife is city pigeons and …
In his book Why Animals Talk: The New Science of Animal Communication, Arik Kershenbaum notes that animal communication is a young science, and this addition to it, focusing on seven animals, six of them nonhuman, is a fun and fascinating read. In looking at these six nonhuman species, Kershenbaum concludes that nonhuman “animals can talk. Just …
As we enter fall we (in the Northern Hemisphere) can be grateful for reasons to stay inside — and read. Which leads me to this list of new(ish) and upcoming books that have passed across on desks… Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death By Susana Monsó When the opossum feels threatened, she becomes paralyzed. Her …
From the snake tempting Adam and Eve to the sheep that saved Odysseus from the Cyclops, animals have featured prominently in literature from the very beginning of literature. Today, animals play leading roles in many bestselling novels, from the dog Almondine in The Story of Edgar Sawtelle to Marcellus, the Pacific octopus in Remarkably Bright Creatures. In a …
I love to share EcoLit Success Stories from authors who have used our extensive list of environmental outlets to find homes for their poetry, stories and essays. So I’d be remiss in not mentioning an essay that I was fortunate to find a home for in The Revelator, an essay on the power of names …
I’m excited to be sharing this writing opportunity. It’s not every day that a literary journal asks specifically for animal-centric literature. The Bellevue Literary Review is publishing a theme issue titled Animalia. Here are the details: Animalia: What animals can teach us about being humanHealth is not simply a human concept. The experience of inhabiting …
We have the pandemic to thank for this eye-opening, empathetic and long-overdue tribute to one of our most misunderstood and widely despised relatives. The rat. And I use relative intentionally as I learned from the book that the human species descends from rats. During the early days of Covid, while so many people were out …
Amazing books keep coming our way and we’re pleased to share a few of them this month. Enjoy! Any Human Power by Manda Scott Sometimes it takes a revolution to change the world, sometimes it takes a relationship. The visionary new novel from Manda Scott, author of the Boudica series. As Lan lies dying, she …
