Through a Vegan Studies Lens: Textual Ethics and Lived Activism, edited by Laura Wright, is part of the series “Cultural Ecologies of Food in the 21st Century” from the University of Nevada Press, bringing attention to the ways in which our food choices “produce ecologies of effects, environmentally and otherwise.” I am thrilled to see …
The cover of Ethical Vegetarianism and Veganism, a collection of essays edited by Andrew Linzey and Clair Linzey, features a photograph of a rescued chicken taken by Jo-Anne McArthur. Rescued is an optimistic word because the life of a chicken freed from a factory farm is often all-too-brief. Chickens bred for food are pumped so …
The winter issue of Minding Nature (published by our contributor The Center for Humans and Nature out now and well worth reading (free download here). This issue features essays about democratic ecological citizenship, reflections on birdsong, sword ferns, and the cultural wisdom of animals, artistic responses to the Anthropocene, and some beautiful poetry scattered throughout.
Reviewed by James Ballowe, Distinguished Professor English Emeritus from Bradley University Strachan Donnelley founded the Center for Humans and Nature in 2003 after years of pondering the ethical responsibilities of humans within the natural environment. Early on in his life after receiving a doctorate in philosophy, he became a member of the Hastings Center, the think …
Always great to see a new literary journal emerge — as well as this new opportunity for writers… Deep Wild Journal: Writing from the Backcountry, seeks submissions of poetry, fiction and nonfiction by March 15 for its inaugural issue, to be published this summer. The mission of Deep Wild is to provide a forum for …
We want to believe that cows live happy lives. From our childhoods of Old MacDonald and his farm, field trips and cartoons and stuffed animals, we are raised to believe they are happy. The dairy industry tells us they are happy. The advertisements we see on TV reinforce the illusion. But it is only an …
I’m pasting below a unique writing opportunity: The Waterston Desert Writing Prize 2019 is now open for submissions. Applicants must submit online via Submittable through April 1,2019. The Prize honors creative nonfiction that illustrates artistic excellence, sensitivity to place, and desert literacy, with the desert asboth subject and setting. Inspired by author and poet Ellen …
I enjoy reading children’s books that help kids connect with the environment and spark a passion for conservation. The Man with Bees in His Beard by Brian Dempsey, published by Chatwin Books, is advertised as just such a book. The main character in the book is an old man wandering in nature who has a …
This is our third year of recapping the best books we’ve read over the past year. Here are the 2017 and 2016 lists. We’re so glad that the number of both readers and reviewers of EcoLit Books have grown enough to now have an annual tradition of celebrating our favorite books of the year. And …
Here’s an exciting new call for submissions from the UiO (University of Oslo) Department of Sociology and Human Geography: Attention writers and humanities researchers: this is a call for narratives that bring us closer to the potentiality of the present and activate “the politics of the possible” in our changing climate. Twelve stories will be …
The Goose, one of Canada’s leading literary journal devoted to the arts, environment and culture, is looking for submissions for a special issue that address art and environmental activism. Specifically, they are looking for submissions from artists, activists, and academics, such as: Visual art, poetry, prose, storytelling, craft, print and poster making, digital art, dance, …
Sigrid Nunez’s new novel, The Friend, is a meditation on grief, writing, and the transcendent power of the human-canine bond. It is also the winner of the 2018 National Book Award for fiction. How is one to mourn the sudden death of a loved one? For the novel’s narrator, whose best friend and literary mentor …
You can’t find a better deal than this — a free online class from the International Writing Program (the IWP) at the University of Iowa: Stories of Place: Writing and the Natural World. You as participants will work with some of the many possible types of creative non-fiction, ranging from essays, science journalism, travel narratives, and speculative …
Reviewed by James Ballowe, Distinguished Professor English Emeritus from Bradley University In his “Prologue” to The Way of Coyote, Gavin Van Horn, Director of Cultures of Conservation at the Center for Humans and Nature, leaves no doubt as to what his book is about. Before coming to Chicago, his “Plan A” was to inhabit a cabin …
The title of this book almost begs incredulity. The Great Cat & Dog Massacre? When I first saw the book cover I struggled to imagine what the book was about exactly. One of the pictures features men in helmets carrying animals, so I initially assumed the massacre was the result of bombings. But, no. This …
