Maddalena Bearzi is the author of Stranded: Finding Nature in Uncertain Times and Dolphin Confidential: Confessions of a Field Biologist, and she is the coauthor of Beautiful Minds: The Parallel Lives of Great Apes and Dolphins. Bearzi is president and cofounder of Ocean Conservation Society. She holds a PhD in biology and a postdoctorate from UCLA, and she has been involved in studying marine mammals, with a conservation bias, since 1990. Her research on dolphins and whales off California represents one of the longest investigations worldwide, and she has published several scientific peer-reviewed papers. Her work and books have been covered by CNN, NPR, KPCC, Al Jazeera America, the Hallmark Channel, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Huffington Post, and American Scientist, among others. Bearzi has also been a writer for numerous media, including National Geographic. Born and raised in Italy, she now lives in Los Angeles with her husband and dog.

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To read the full interview, visit Fiction Advocate and be sure to check out the previous installments of Non-Fiction about Non-Humans with Bethany Brookshire, Sabrina Imbler, Erica Berry, Tove Danovich, Karen Fine, Jaime Green, Cat Warren, Gloria Dickie, Karen Pinchin, and Rosanna Xia!

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Rosanna Xia is the author of California Against the Sea, which examines the future of our vanishing coastline in the face of rising water. She is also an environment reporter for the Los Angeles Times, where she specializes in stories about the coast and ocean. She was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2020 for explanatory reporting, and her coverage of a toxic dumpsite in the deep ocean has been featured in the “Best American Science and Nature Writing” anthology. Originally from Massachusetts, Xia now lives in California.

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To read the full interview, visit Fiction Advocate and be sure to check out the previous installments of Non-Fiction about Non-Humans with Bethany Brookshire, Sabrina Imbler, Erica Berry, Tove Danovich, Karen Fine, Jaime Green, Cat Warren, Gloria Dickie, and Karen Pinchin!

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Karen Pinchin is the author of Kings of Their Own Ocean: Tuna, Obsession, and the Future of Our Seas. Pinchin is an investigative journalist and trained cook whose work runs in Canadian Geographic, Scientific American, and Hakai Magazine. She graduated from Columbia Journalism School’s MA-Science in 2019, and has since been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Sloan Foundation. She lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with her husband and son.

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To read the full interview, visit Fiction Advocate and be sure to check out the previous installments of Non-Fiction about Non-Humans with Bethany Brookshire, Sabrina Imbler, Erica Berry, Tove Danovich, Karen Fine, Jaime Green, Cat Warren, and Gloria Dickie!

The post Non-Fiction about Non-Humans: Karen Pinchin appeared first on E.B. Bartels.

Gloria Dickie is an award-winning journalist and the author of Eight Bears: Mythic Past and Imperiled Future. She is currently a global climate and environment correspondent at Reuters News Agency, based in London. Dickie has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, National Geographic, Wired magazine, Scientific American magazine, Al Jazeera, Public Radio International, The Atlantic, Outside, Columbia Journalism Review, Mongabay, Yale Environment 360, and Science News, among others. She was a 2022 finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists, a 2021 finalist for the Covering Climate Now awards in the Breaking News category, a 2019 nominee for a National Magazine Award, and the inaugural winner of the 2017 Food Sustainability Media Award, Print. As a foreign correspondent and magazine writer, Dickie has reported from more than 15 countries and six continents, along the way receiving generous support from the United Nations Press Foundation; National Geographic Society; Overseas Press Club; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Oregon State University; University of Alaska Fairbanks; National Tropical Botanical Garden; Fund for Investigative Journalism; Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources; and the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity.

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To read the full interview, visit Fiction Advocate, and be sure to check out the previous installments of Non-Fiction about Non-Humans with Bethany Brookshire, Sabrina Imbler, Erica Berry, Tove Danovich, Karen Fine, Jaime Green, and Cat Warren!

The post Non-Fiction about Non-Humans: Gloria Dickie appeared first on E.B. Bartels.

Jaime Green is a freelance writer, editor, and writing teacher who writes about books, culture, and science. She is the author of The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos, and she is the series editor for The Best American Science and Nature Writing. Previously, Green was associate editor of Future Tense, a collaboration of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University, the writer behind The New York Times romance book review column, and the creator, host, and producer of the podcast The Catapult. She has taught at Columbia University, Eugene Lang at The New School, Catapult, and the Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop, and she is currently a lecturer at Smith College.

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To read the full interview, visit Fiction Advocate, and be sure to check out the previous installments of Non-Fiction about Non-Humans with Bethany Brookshire, Sabrina Imbler, Erica Berry, Tove Danovich, and Karen Fine!

The post Non-Fiction about Non-Humans: Jaime Green appeared first on E.B. Bartels.

I can’t believe it has been a month. It both flew by and also felt like the longest month of my life. More below on everything that has happened since 8/2! But thank you to everyone who preordered the book, purchased the book once it was out, showed up at an event either virtually or in-person, posted about Good Grief on social media, texted my mom when they heard me on NPR, snapped a photo when they spotted Good Grief  “in the wild” (please NEVER STOP sending me pictures when you see Good Grief in bookstores or libraries, it makes me so happy), and/or sent me an email, DM, text, or other kind of message about how much the book meant to them. All I can say is I have been completely overwhelmed in the best possible way. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

So much has happened since Good Grief came out on 8/2. First, here is a list of all the wonderful interviews, essays, media coverage, reviews, etc. that have come out in the past month. Seriously, it has only been a month???? How????

• Good Grief has been reviewed favorably in Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Shelf Awareness, The Wellesley News, Booklist, and The Washington Independent Review of Books.
• Good Grief was recommended in reading lists from Book Riot, Literary Hub, Wellesley Magazine, and the New Castle Public Library, plus veterinarian Karen Fine includes Good Grief in the list of pet loss resources on her website.
• You can read an excerpt of Good Grief on Literary Hub!
• The 8/2 Good Grief launch event got a shout-out in the Boston Globe!
• I got to speak about Good Grief on several different podcasts including Library Love Fest (in conversation with Ivy Givens), Writer’s Bone (in conversation with Daniel Ford and Kelly J. Ford, who are not related), Debut Spotlight (in conversation with Rachel Barenbaum), and Dog Talk (in conversation with Tracie Hotchner a.k.a. the Radio Pet Lady).
• My essay “The Heart of a Professor” (about the way one of my college professors showed me great empathy when I had to euthanize my childhood dog Gus)as the Endnotes essay in the summer 2022 issue of Wellesley Magazine.
• Good Grief got a write-up in my hometown local newspaper, The Lexington Minuteman!
• “Ashes to Ashes, Pet to Plant” is my essay for Slate’s Future Tense series about the new industry of pet composting. Thanks to editor Jaime Green for her wise feedback on that piece!
• I was interviewed by the great biologist Marc Bekoff for Psychology Today!
• I also did an interview for AKC.org! Thanks to journalist Ranny Green for taking the time to speak with me for it.
• My essay about #MassAveLola ran on Cognoscenti. Thank you to editor Sara Shukla for giving Lola a home on WBUR!
• I also had an essay about learning to love and let go when it comes to pet pigeons run on Salon!
• The legendary Chewy.com featured Good Grief on their blog Be.Chewy. Thanks to journalist Alyssa Sparacino for writing the piece, and to Lindsey Bluher for getting it set up in the first place, which is full of really helpful concrete tips if you are going through pet loss. It’s a great resource!
• Nicole Graev Lipson took the time to talk to me about Good Grief for the Chicago Review of Books! Thank you, Nicole!
• The Noble & Greenough School, my high school alma mater and former employer, featured Good Grief in the summer issue of their alumni magazine, complete with gorgeous illustrations by John Jay Cabuay.
• The tables turned and Fiction Advocate editor Brian Hurley interviewed me for the August installment of Non-Fiction by Non-Men!
• And Good Grief was featured on NPR’s Here & Now! I got to go into the WBUR studios for my interview with Peter O’Dowd (see above). It was like doing college radio on steroids. My years of WZLY prepared me for this!!!!

In the past month, I did eleven Good Grief events: nine were in person, two were virtual, five were in Massachusetts, one was in New Hampshire, and three were in California. They were hosted by six different indie bookstores (Porter Square Books, Once Upon A Time Bookstore, Toadstool Bookshop, Newtonville Books, Tatnuck Bookseller, and An Unlikely Story), one library (Tewksbury Public), two organizations (The Order of the Good Death and the Wellesley College Club of Los Angeles), one book club (People Who Read Darkness!), and one oddities shop (Memento Mori Los Angeles). I got to be in conversation with Kelly J. Ford, Cat Warren, Sy Montgomery, Chloe Shaw, and Karen Fine. I got to see SO many people I love who came out to support me — far too many to name here, though special shout-outs go to Rachel Barenbaum (for the beautiful introduction at my launch), Erin Greene (who traveled up from NYC to be there on 8/2), Lee Ung (for attending every single one of my West Coast events), Karen and Rich Bartels (for attending almost every single one of my East Coast events, and, in their defense, they would have been at every one but I told them to skip 8/24 because they were tired), and the great Richie Corrado (for his toast at my launch that made everyone cry). If you missed any of these events and are bummed about it, don’t worry! There are recordings of several of them:

• Click here to watch the recording of my 8/2 launch at GrubStreet / Porter Square Books: Boston Edition, in conversation with Kelly J. Ford.
• Click here to watch the recording of my 8/17 virtual event with the Tewksbury Public Library, in conversation Chloe Shaw.
• Click here to watch the recording of my 8/24 event at An Unlikely Story in Plainville, MA.
• Plus a recording of my 8/3 conversation with Cat Warren is available to members of The Order of the Good Death, so become a member today to watch!

But don’t worry!!! I am totally exhausted but that doesn’t mean I don’t have MORE great things planned for September, October, and beyond! Below is a list of all my upcoming events, and be sure to keep checking the events page on my website for the most up-to-date into. (I promise the page will load now! I know there was a bug before, sorry!) All of the below events are in-person unless they are labeled ***VIRTUAL***.

SEPTEMBER:

• TOMORROW!!!!!! Saturday 9/3, 3:00pm EDT: Homecoming event at the Fishers Island Library on Fishers Island, NY!
• Wednesday 9/7, 7:00pm EDT: I get to be in conversation with Kelly J. Ford for the launch of her second novel Real Bad Things at Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, MA!
• Tuesday 9/13, 6:30pm EDT: Author event at Gibson’s in Concord, NH! (Thank you to Sue Smith for setting that one up!)
• Thursday 9/15, 5:00pm EDT: Local Author Book Fair at new indie bookstore Hummingbird Books in Chestnut Hill, MA!
• Sunday 9/18, 4:00pm EDT: ***VIRTUAL*** author talk with the Perfect Paws Pet Ministry!
• Tuesday 9/20, 7:00pm EDT: Author event at Water Street Bookstore in Exeter, NH! (Thank you to Sue Smith for setting that one up!)
• Wednesday 9/21, 7:00pm EDT: Atomic Anna x Good Grief event at Belmont Books in Belmont, MA, where I’ll be in conversation with Rachel Barenbaum!
• Monday 9/26, 7:00pm EDT: ***VIRTUAL*** event with Morbid Anatomy, in conversation with Annie Hartnett! Click here to register.
• Wednesday 9/28, 8:00am EDT: Presentation in assembly at the Noble & Greenough School, followed by a guided tour of the Pine Ridge Pet Cemetery!
• Thursday 9/29, 7:00pm EDT: Part of the Books and Buzz series at Brewster Book Store on the Cape (fundraiser for the Animal Rescue League of Boston)!

OCTOBER:

• Tuesday 10/4, 7:00pm EDT: I get to be in conversation with Rita Zoey Chin for the launch of her debut novel The Strange Inheritance of Leah Fern at Wellesley Books in Wellesley, MA!
• Thursday 10/6, 12:30pm EDT: Visit to professor Christine Carpenter‘s class “The Power of Pets” at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire!
• Thursday 10/20, 8:00pm EDT: “Burgers & Books” party at Tasty Burger in Harvard Square celebrating four GrubStreet authors with 2022 books: Neema Avashia, Rachel Barenbaum, Kelly J. Ford, and me!
• Thursday 10/27, 6:00pm EDT: I’m honored to share that I’ve been chosen to be the Roslindale Book Ambassador for September + October 2022! On this Thursday, I will have a “Conversation with the Author” event from 6:00pm-7:00pm, followed by a book signing from 7:00pm-7:30pm, at the Roslindale Branch of the Boston Public Library.
• Sunday 10/30, 1:00pm EDT: Session on “Writing Collections: Short Stories and Essays” with Thomas McNeely as part of the Concord Festival of Authors, at the Concord Free Public Library.

NOVEMBER:

• Thursday 11/3, 7:00pm EDT: Book event in New York City at McNally Jackson’s Seaport location (4 Fulton Street)! I will be in conversation with the artist Heide Hatry, and a reception will follow at McNally Jackson Seaport’s new snazzy cocktail bar!

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On January 30, I sold my book Good Grief: On Loving Pets, Here and Hereafter, to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt! My editor is the wonderful Naomi Gibbs, known for editing many incredible books, including some of my favorites from the past couple years: Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays by Alexander Chee, Tango Lessons: A Memoir by Meghan Flaherty, and After the Eclipse: A Mother’s Murder, a Daughter’s Search by Sarah Perry. A publication date is not set yet (likely sometime in 2021) but the one thing I know for certain now is I have to turn in a complete draft of the book by the end of January 2020. HERE WE GO!

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Three years ago today, on April 28, 2015, Brian Hurley published my very first Non-Fiction by Non-Men interview with Patricia O’Toole. I can’t believe that it has been three years, and so I wanted to take a moment to pause and thank some people who have made this whole Non-Fiction by Non-Men thing possible.

Thank you, Patty, for your willingness to be the first interviewee in the series. You started it all three years ago. Thank you!

Thank you, Brian, for giving me a platform to publish Non-Fiction by Non-Men (I love being part of Fiction Advocate!), for your careful, helpful, and perfect edits, for always sending me suggestions for future interviewees, and for being the column’s number one champion. Non-Fiction by Non-Men exists because of you!

Thank you to everyone who has read my interviews over the past three years, especially those of you who have taken the time to read every single one (hi, Mom and Dad).

And, of course, thank you to every writer who has let me interview her. Non-Fiction by Non-Men would not exist without the generosity of your time and the care and thoughtfulness you take in answering my questions. It has been my greatest pleasure getting to speak with each of you about writing (and reading and teaching and journaling and studying Russian and going to therapy and drinking beer and having pets and whatever else has come up over the course of our conversations), and I have learned so much from each and every one of you. Thank you again for your time and for being supportive of your fellow writers, especially the new ones who are just starting out, like me. Thank you.

As of this month, I have published thirty-seven interviews on Fiction Advocate (for a complete list, go here) and I have no intention of stopping any time soon. Just wait and see who I have lined up for this spring and summer.

Happy birthday, Non-Fiction by Non-Men!

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Elizabeth Greenwood is the author of Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud. She holds an MFA from Columbia University, where she teaches creative nonfiction. Greenwood grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts.

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Meghan Daum has written two popular essay collections, My Misspent Youth (Open City Books, 2001) and The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion (FSG, 2014), which won the 2015 PEN Center USA Award for creative nonfiction. Daum has also written a novel, The Quality of Life Report (Viking, 2003) and a memoir, Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived In That House (Knopf, 2010). She is the editor of the New York Times bestselling essay anthology Selfish, Shallow & Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not To Have Kids (Picador, 2015).

In addition to her books, Daum has been an opinion columnist at The Los Angeles Times for over a decade, covering cultural and political topics. She has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, and Vogue, among others. Daum is the recipient of a 2015 Guggenheim Fellowship and a 2016 National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and is an adjunct associate professor in the MFA Writing Program at Columbia University’s School of the Arts.

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