Imagining a different Thanksgiving tradition
The annual presidential pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey has to be one of the most curious traditions in this country. It officially dates back to George H.W. Bush, though John …
Birds
Shining a light on birding’s blind spot
I was pleased to contribute an essay to The Revelator recently. It begins… Birding is having a moment. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there are more than 90 …
Lost Animals: Voices of Extinction
What would the last living passenger pigeon (seen in silhouette above) have to say if he or she were alive today? Or the Tasmanian tiger? Or the Carolina parakeet? In …
Satellite: Essays of Fatherhood and Home, Near and Far by Simmons Buntin
Terra Firma Books, Trinity University Press, 2025 This fine collection of essays by Simmons Buntin, Satellite: Essays of Fatherhood and Home, Near and Far, leads with lizards. “They are tidy, …
New and forthcoming environmental books (May 2025)
Imagine a lion who decides one day that he will no longer survive off eating animals. This is the premise of Erasmus Joseph Lion by Marvin Rollick, one of a …
Book Review: The Universe in Verse
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 …
The most popular book reviews and pages of 2024
More than 35,000 people from more than 100 countries visited EcoLit Books this year. And this post shows where they spent most of their time. Here are the top 25 …
Book Review: The Inhuman Empire: Wildlife, Colonialism, Culture
When the British colonized India throughout the 18th century they imported their narrative about the relationships between human and non-human animals. A narrative of violence and cruelty, in which wild …
Animal Tales: Novels old and new that every animal lover should read
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 …
ARROYO CIRCLE: A Q&A with JoeAnn Hart
Float author JoeAnn Hart is one of our most prolific Ashland Creek Press authors. In addition to her pre-Float novel, Addled, she is the author of a memoir and an …
Writing Opportunity: Bellevue Literary Review
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 …