Bioscience article on Art-Sci collaborations
“6&6: A Transdisciplinary Approach to Art–Science Collaboration,” an article about our project that brought 6 artists and 6 scientists together for art-sci collaboration around the Sonoran Desert and Gulf of California, is now published in Bioscience.
University of Arizona Museum of Art Exhibit
The 6&6 art-science exhibit at the University of Arizona Museum of Art is up through March 31, 2019. My collaboration with Maria Johnson, Bycatch, is included in this exhibit.
New Review of The Sonoran Desert in Southwestern American Literature
Southwestern American Literature recently published a review of The Sonoran Desert: A Literary Field Guide. In the review, William Huggins writes:
“Poetry at it best compels us to look more closely at our world. The best of these poems and short essays lead readers to engage with the plants and animals they describe word by word and line by line, creating a literary ecology that, like the natural world itself, can be returned to time and again, always revealing something not formerly seen. The editors’ stated goal—’The empiricism of science, the imaginative and cognitive leaps of poetry, the close observation of both…we need it all’—is more than met by this excellent book.”
Southwestern American Literature is here, and the link to the issue’s Table of Contents is here.
New Reviews in The Los Angeles Review and Western American Literature
The Sonoran Desert: A Literary Field Guide was recently reviewed in The Los Angeles Review and Western American Literature.
Here are a few quotes from the review by L. Ann Wheeler in The Los Angeles Review:
“…this anthology is the field guide you’ve always wanted. Combining factual information alongside a creative response to each entry, The Sonoran Desert harmonizes science and the arts. This much needed
convergence is made in a time where the two fields are often separated and pitted against each other as fabricated opposites.”
“…the valuation of observation over monument-making, is the greatest joy of this collection. Magrane and Cokinos capture light in a jar, so that you may take it into the field: a living, breathing companion.”
And here are a few from the review by Jennifer Lair in Western American Literature:
“The guide fills a niche in western American literature by delivering a combination of literary insight specific to a region while at the same time providing legitimate field guide information in a memorable way likely to make readers chuckle.”
“…a useful, thought-provoking, and entertaining addition to anyone’s field guide collection…”
The Sonoran Desert: A Literary Field Guide Named a Southwest Book of the Year
The Sonoran Desert: A Literary Field Guide has been named a Southwest Book of the Year. An article in the Arizona Daily Star announced the awards:
The Sonoran Desert also recently won a New Mexico-Arizona Book award from the New Mexico Book Co-op for best anthology of 2016.
Thanks to the panelists who selected the book for these awards, to UA Press, and to all the contributors and critters in the book!
Essay Daily Interview & Two Reviews
Some new press on The Sonoran Desert: A Literary Field Guide:
The Literary Field Guide: A Q&A with Eric Magrane and Chris Cokinos in Essay Daily
Also, see reviews in Fine Books & Collections and Story Circle Book Reviews.
Upcoming events are here.
A Celebration of the Poetry and Natural History of the Sonoran Desert
This Sunday, March 6 at the Desert Museum!
The Sonoran Desert: A Literary Field Guide Available for Pre-Order
The Sonoran Desert: A Literary Field Guide is now available for pre-order here.
“It’s a book to walk with, a book to scribble in, and even a book to use as a cushion if the desert rock you tried to sit on was too sharp. It’s also a book to get away with. Let the rest of the country rant and rave and post and tweet and babble. The writers inside these pages aren’t listening. They are too busy getting out there and getting lost, naming plants and animals, teaching and learning, and doing the vital work of mapping their place.” —David Gessner, author of All the Wild That Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, and the American West
“A book of delights for the mind and spirit, this is what a field guide ought to be. What better way to truly see a place than through the unblinking eyes of literature? What better way to truly love a place than through the embrace of ecology? Put them together, as Magrane and Cokinos have brilliantly done, and here is their irresistible invitation to the spectacular desert.” —Kathleen Dean Moore, author of Wild Comfort: The Solace of Nature