Margaret Renkl inspires us to make an “untidy” garden that will nurture our soul and the natural world. She encourages us to fall in love with the natural companions in our lives: the spiders, the hummingbirds, crickets, and racoons, and all the other species who are living right beside us. When we fall in love with them, we can't help but want to save them. Renkl is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, where her essays appear weekly. She has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards for her writing. She is the founding editor of Chapter 16, a daily literary publication of Humanities Tennessee. A graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Carolina, she now lives in Nashville. She  is the author of Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss (Milkweed Editions 2019), Graceland, At Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache from the American South. (Milkweed Editions 2021) and The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year (Spiegel and Grau 2023)

Interview Date: 6/19/2023     Tags: Margaret Renkl, birding tradition, blue jays, crows, bird language, tadpoles, amphibians, frogs, toads, endocrine disruptors, chemical fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides, monarch butterflies, Methuselah generation, Roundup, glyphosate, pollinator plants, rabbits, manicured lawns, spiders, hummingbirds, walking, Ecology/Nature/Environment, Writing