Wildbranch: An Anthology of Nature, Environmental, and Place-based Writing is a powerful collection of mostly unpublished essays and poetry by both prominent American environmental writers and exciting new voices. The poetry and essays by more than fifty contributors offer the reader glimpses into places as diverse as a forest in West Africa, the moors of Ireland, the canyons of the Sonoran desert mountains, and the fields of New England, and they reflect the varied perspectives of field biologists, hunters, farmers, environmental educators, wilderness guides, academics, writers, and artists. The collection is an intimate portrait of the natural world drawn through the wisdom, ecological consciousness, and open hearts of these exceptional contributors. The Wildbranch Writing Workshop, cosponsored by Orion magazine and Sterling College, has encouraged thoughtful natural history, outdoor, and environmental writing for more than twenty years. The Wildbranch faculty has included its founder E. Anne Proulx, the essayists Edward Hoagland, Janisse Ray, and Scott Russell Sanders, the poet Alison Hawthorne Deming, and many other notable authors. Many have work included in the anthology. Winner of the New Mexico Book Association's Southwest Book Design & Production Awards for Excellence in the category Trade Books: Non-illustrated.
Florence Caplow is a writer, Zen priest, conservation botanist, and graduate from Evergreen State College. She has spent more than twenty-five years working to protect the endangered plants of the western United States. Her essays have been published in Tricycle, Nature Conservancy Magazine, Turning Wheel, Inquiring Mind, and Terrain. Susan Cohen earned her PhD in English at the University of Maryland, College Park; she is a professor of English and women's studies at Anne Arundel Community College. She is the editor of Shorewords: A Collection of Women's Coastal Writings. Her essays have appeared in Sea Stories; Women Writing Nature: A Feminist View; Early American Nature Writers; and Gendered Landscapes.
Foreword - H. Emerson Blake Preface - Florence Caplow and Susan A. Cohen A Brief History of Wildbranch - Dave Brown Part I: Intimacy Des Ta Te: A Love Story - Paul Grindrod White Wings Out of a Dark Sky - Alison Townsend Between Green Flannel Sheets Splattered With Portuguese Roses - Alison Townsend Exaltation of Elk - Janisse Ray Letter to Douglas - Tony Cross This Ground Made of Trees - Alison Hawthorne Deming To Liv - Jennifer Barton Dispute with Thomas Hardy - Sydney Lea Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Craftsbury Common, Vermont - David Haskell Migrations - Glenda Cotter Spirits - Glenda Cotter Fourth Night Magic - Robert Kimber Fishing with George - Jim Collins Calling the Dove - Dorinda G. Dallymeyer Mine - Stephanie Joelle Renfrow Over - Elizabeth Wynn Banks Part II: Speaking of Place Hiking the Fakahatchee Strand - Linda Maree The Dividing Spring - Brent Martin Aubade - Julia Shipley Hornbills O'Plenty: Birdwatching by Bike in West Africa - Philip Johansson The Bench - Ann B. Day Leaving Dorland Mountain - Alison Townsend Prairie Skin - Susan Futrell Settling - Rachel Shaw Return - Andrea M. Jones Meditation on My Hometown - Heather Fitzgerald Pink Ribbons - Eve Quesnel Blackfoot River - Mira BartOk Part III: What Comes from the Land Fetching Water - Garrett Conover Meat - Steve Bodio Dear Bowl - Susan A. Cohen Demeter, Fond of Cycles - Janice Dukes Bean by Bean - Terra Brockman Rolling the Turf - Meghan McCarthy McPhaul For the Love of a Good Tomato - Charlotte Pyle Part IV: On Perceiving and Knowing Earth's Eye - Edward Hoagland La Joie du Criquet - Jeffrey A. Lockwood Divination - Sydney Lea Degrees of Damage in Blue River - Alison Hawthorne Deming The Web - Alison Hawthorne Deming Cow of the Virgin - Robert J. Romano Jr. Least Terns, St. Catherine's Island, Georgia - David Haskell A Day at Agua Dulce - G. Davies Jandrey Small things - John Bates The Wisdom of Turtles - Michael J. Caduto Crow Speaks His Mind - H.C. Palmer The Work of Turkey Vultures - H.C. Palmer A Pure Color - Simmons B. Buntin Standing Still - Aleria Jensen Beauty and the Birds - Ted Cable Then Come Crows - Cherie Staples The Ecologist - Louise Fabiani A Leaf is a Book is a River - Mira BartOk Part V: For the Children/For the Future Peepers - Aleria Jensen A Letter to My Daughter: From the Bayley-Hazen Road, Greensboro, Vermont - Ned Olmsted Jupiter Came Down on Tuesday - Maureen Sullivan Blue Egg - Peter Shepherd Hatch - April Newlin The Drawer of Inhaled Objects - Mira BartOk The Worst Trap in the World - Jules Older Seeds - Florence Caplow For the Children - Scott Russell Sanders Acknowledgments Wildbranch Faculty About the Authors
"Wildbranch is at best a glorious introduction to and seminal collection of contemporary place-based writing, but it is also, undeniably, a love story.... This anthology captures the reverence and appreciation [the authors] hold for the natural world." --Terrain.org "A rich and satisfying anthology.... For anyone marooned, whether in a storm, a winter's doldrum, or a silent classroom, few anthologies offer more comfort, insight, or urging than Wildbranch." --Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment "One of the richest collections of environmental writing to emerge in years. A special virtue of this new collection is the range of voices offered, and student writers in particular will find the diversity of voices inspiring and empowering."--Scott Slovic, University of Nevada, Reno "The overall quality of writing is extremely high. Many of the voices are fresh and engaging, and they add up to a compelling ethical perspective on this beautiful planet and the fellow creatures with whom we humans share it."--John Elder, Middlebury College
