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Book Review: The wildflowers and mushrooms of North America
The wildflowers are in bloom here in Oregon. And while I love coming across them on hikes I’m mostly clueless about what exactly each flower is. I consult the iNaturalist app (which is excellent by the way) though I find myself feeling a bit guilty afterwards; I’d like to at least make an effort to …
Book Review: The Gatekeeper of America’s Seasons: Edwin Way Teale’s four iconic environmental books
Author Edwin Way Teale, a somewhat forgotten naturalist extraordinaire, was a pleasing lyrical writer who followed the seasons across America in cross-country car trips with his wife Nellie four times in his lifetime. These coast-to-coast meanderings across America resulted in four signature natural history books: North With The Spring (1951), Autumn Across America (1956), Journey Into Summer (1960), and the Pulitzer …
New and forthcoming environmental literature
So many new and exciting novels and books of nonfiction and poetry have come across our desks and inboxes as of late. Here are just a handful that caught our eyes… B/RDS Beatrice Szymkowiak B/RDS endeavors to dismantle discourses that create an artificial distinction between nature and humanity through a subversive erasure of an iconic work …
Book Review: The Nature Book, a novel
By Tom Comitta Coffee House Press, 2023 Reviewed by JoeAnn Hart “No words of my own can be added anywhere in the novel,” writes The Nature Book’s author, Tom Comitta, with a nod to the Oulipo group[1] and a whiff of Sol LeWitt[2], as he defines the constraints and rules of this extraordinary novel. Every …
EcoLit Books Success Story: Kath Donnelly
One of the inspirations for EcoLit Books was to create a place where writers could find inspiration — and writing opportunities. I was happy to hear that author Kath Donnelly discovered Gaia Lit through EcoLit Books and, as a result, her short story Two Degrees found a home. Tell us about your short story and …
Book Review: The Garden Politic: Seeds of evolution and revolution
Frederick Douglass, the abolitionist, activist, author and orator, was also a gardener. In 1949 he published an article about growing pumpkins and in it he wrote: The ground was prepared –seed sown– and the planet cultivated by our own colored hands; and although the soil is American, it took no offense on the account of …
Catch up on our recent event
Ashland Creek Press was thrilled to host Reading Animals/Writing Animals, sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Writers’ Union of Canada, with Siskiyou Prize winner and Among Animals 3 contributor Nadja Lubiw-Hazard — and we’re delighted to present a recording of the event. The live event on Wednesday, May 24, was filled …
Book Review: Query, a Novel by Zilla Novikov
A tRaum Press and Night Beats book, 2023 Reviewed by JoeAnn Hart Query, a Novel, is snack-sized, but it took me a while to read because I kept laughing coffee out of my nose and onto the page, the best recommendation I can give for a book. When I wasn’t cleaning up coffee or phlegm, …
Book Review: Where do you get your protein? This book is a good start…
There was a time, many years ago, when I believed that I couldn’t give up eating meat because I needed my protein. I was an athlete after all. I needed lots of protein — even though I had little idea what protein actually was. I only believed that it must have come from animals. I …
Book Review: FUNNY FARM by Laurie Zaleski
Laurie Zaleski’s Funny Farm: My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals is not only a memoir of a hardscrabble life but a lovely tribute to the woman who taught Laurie all she needed to create and run an animal sanctuary. Laurie’s mother, Annie McNulty, gave her the skills — hard work, determination, and a love …