Writing Wild by Kathryn Aalto

Writing Wild by Kathryn Aalto

This book came out in the summer of 2020, and the subtitle is Women Poets, Ramblers, and Mavericks Who Shape How We See the Natural World.

This is such a good book, and I've been waiting to recommend it on the show.

Kathryn was inspired to write this book after stumbling upon a book written with all-male voices. She wanted to find the female voices and add their perspective on the natural world. In all, about 75 women are mentioned in Kathryn's book.

Curating these pieces was intended to help us deepen our connection to and understanding of the natural world.

Some of these writers are some of my old favorites, like Mary Oliver, Vita Sackville West, Mary Austin, and Susan Fenimore Cooper.

But then there are also new voices like Helen MacDonald, Andrea Wulf, Amy Liptrot, and Elizabeth Rush. This book shares the works of 25 of these women in full.

I love what Kathryn wrote in the introduction. She says,

Much of this book was researched and penned outside - mountain climbing, mudlarking, canoeing, beachcombing, gardening, hiking, and birdwatching.

I retraced the footsteps of those who have passed on, some of whom wrote anonymously or were chastised for daring to venture off without male chaperones.

I walked and talked with living authors. I read original 19th-century journals, letters, essays, and books.

I held tangible personal objects. I searched the faces and old photographs.

I listened to historians, archivists, and experts. I attended live author readings and listened to recordings.

I passed through 200 years of women's history through nature writing.

Remarkable.

Compilation books like this are excellent because Kathryn has done the heavy lifting for us. She has sifted through all of this nature writing and brought us the best of the best—an excellent sampling of women writing about nature over the past two centuries.

I have to share two beautiful quotes Kathryn includes at the top of the book.

The first is from Willa Cather in her 1913 book O Pioneers! She wrote, 

Isn't it queer: there are only two or three human stories and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes for over thousands of years. 

And then there's this beautiful quote by Emily Dickinson in an 1885 letter that she wrote to Eugenia Hall.

I hope you love Birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven. 

This book is chockful of great insights, quotes, and readings from women as marvelous as Willa Cather and Emily Dickinson.

This book is 288 pages of women finding joy in nature, writing about it, and sharing it. 

You can get a copy of Writing Wild by Kathryn Aalto and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $6.