University of Colorado – Boulder instructor Kayann Short developed the term ecobiography for ecology-based memoirs that explore a personal sense of place where first-person narratives and nature writing intersect. Just as Shelley Walchak does in 52 Rivers, other writers have explored the ways in which nature and the self relate. You don’t need to live in the wilderness, or even long for it, to appreciate these award-winning ecobiographies by Western women:
- Between Urban and Wild: Reflections from Colorado by Andrea M. Jones. (University of Iowa Press, 2013). Shortlisted for the 2013 Reading the West Award.
- A Bushels Worth: A Ecobiography by Kayann Short. (Torrey House Press, 2014). Silver Medal Winner for the Nautilus “Better Books for a Better World” Award in Green Living and Sustainability and finalist for the Sarton Memoir Award.
- Kissed by a Fox: And Other Stories of Friendship in Nature by Priscilla Stuckey (Counterpoint Press, 2012). Winner of the 2013 WILLA Award for Creative Nonfiction.
- Walking Nature Home: A Life’s Journey by Susan J. Tweit. (University of Texas Press, 2009). Tweit is the Winner of the 2014 Colorado Authors League Award.
- Altitude Adjustment : A Quest for Love, Home, and Meaning in the Tetons by Mary Beth Baptiste. (Two Dot, 2014). Finalist for the 2014 IndieFab Book of the Year in Autobiography & Memoir.