Nature Writer and “Citizen Scientist”

Adrienne Ross Scanlan

author of

Turning Homeward: Restoring Hope and Nature in the Urban Wild

in conversation with series host

Michael N. McGregor

author of The Last Grand Tour and

An Island to Myself: The Place of Solitude in an Active Life

6 p.m., Thursday, September 11

Cascadia Art Museum, 190 Sunset Ave, Edmonds, WA 98020

(To order tickets through the Cascadia website, click here)

Seattle writer Adrienne Ross Scanlan will be the next featured author in the Cascadia Writers-in-Conversation series.

Scanlan’s first book, Turning Homeward: Restoring Hope and Nature in the Urban Wild, is a collection of sharp, evocative essays about her explorations and work as an avid naturalist and “citizen scientist” in her adopted city of Seattle. It was a finalist for a Washington State Book Award. (Click here to read Michael N. McGregor’s review of the book on WritingtheNorthwest.com.)

Scanlan’s work weaves memoir with natural history to tell the story of a newcomer to the Pacific Northwest who learns that home isn’t simply where you live but also where you create belonging by helping restore the natural environment. Scanlan’s nature writing, personal essays, memoirs, and other creative nonfiction focus on repair, restoration, and resilience. Most of her writing comes from her life experiences, whether that’s being a mother, restoring salmon runs in city streams, or exploring landscapes of nature, spirit, family, politics, and community.

Scanlan is also a freelance developmental editor who works primarily with writers of creative nonfiction (personal essays, memoirs, narrative nonfiction, nature writing, and nontraditional or hybrid forms). She’s a graduate of the University of Washington’s Certificate in Editing program and a member of the Northwest Editors Guild (NWEG) and the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA).

From 2012 to 2017, she was the nonfiction editor of the Blue Lyra Review: A Literary Magazine of Diverse Voices. In recent years, she has reviewed books for the New York Journal of Books, with a particular interest in nature, science, the environment, Jewish life and culture, creativity, and the writing life.

A former New Yorker, she still reads the New York Times after 25 years in the Puget Sound region.

You can read more about her and her work at adrienne-ross-scanlan.com.

You can purchase Adrienne Ross Scanlan’s book online at the Edmonds Bookshop.

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About the Cascadia Writers-in-Conversation Series

On the second Thursday of each month, host Michael N. McGregor brings one Northwest writer in front of an enthusiastic audience for a brief reading, a discussion of the author’s work, and a question-and-answer session with engaged literature lovers.

The series showcases the wealth of writing talent in the Pacific Northwest by featuring writers from different genres at different stages of their careers who may have been overlooked rather than those readers already know.

Writers who appear in the series are also featured on WritingtheNorthwest.com.

The series offers a unique chance to hear talented writers speak in-depth about what it means to be an author in the Northwest and why and how they create their works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The conversations take place in one of Cascadia’s beautiful galleries, with Northwest art lining the walls.

Cascadia Art Museum is the only museum dedicated to artists and their works from the Pacific Northwest. Focused on visual art and design from 1860 to 1970, it is committed to the belief that recognizing previously neglected artists who made significant contributions to the region’s cultural identity gives us a fuller and more comprehensive understanding of Northwest art history. The Writers-in-Conversation series signals the museum’s desire to highlight underappreciated Northwest artists in literature as well. The series is sponsored by the Edmonds Bookshop and Holman.

Michael N. McGregor is Seattle-based author whose book Pure Act: The Uncommon Life of Robert Lax was a finalist for a Washington State Book Award. After living his early life in Seattle, he spent 17 years as an award-winning professor of creative writing at Portland State University, where he helped found the MFA in Creative Writing program. A former member of the Advisory Committee for the Oregon Book Awards and Fellowships, he holds a BA in Journalism from the University of Oregon and an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in New York. His first novel, The Last Grand Tour, and his first memoir, An Island to Myself: The Place of Solitude in an Active Life, were published earlier this year.

Note: I’m an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local bookstores. If you buy a book through a click on this website, I’ll earn a small commission that helps defray the costs of maintaining WritingtheNorthwest.com.

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