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In pursuit of moments of feeling 'sharply alive', confronting fear of the body's betrayals, and roaming across Wales, Scotland, California and the Middle East, Birdsplaining is focused unapologetically on the uniqueness of women's experience of nature and constraints placed upon it. Sometimes bristling, always ethical, it upends familiar ways of seeing the natural world.
A wren in the house foretells a death, while a tech-loving parrot aids a woman's recovery. Crows' misbehaviour suggests how the 'natural' order, ranked by men, may be challenged. A blur of bunting above an unassuming bog raises questions about how nature reserves were chosen. Should the oriole be named 'green' or golden? The flaws of field guides across decades prove that this is a feminist issue. A buzzard, scavenging a severed ewe's leg, teaches taboos about curiosity.
Whose poo is the mammal scat uncovered in the attic, and should the swallows make their home inside yours? The nightjar's churring brings on unease at racism and privilege dividing nature lovers, past and present. The skin of a Palestine sunbird provokes concern at the colonial origins of ornithology. And when a sparrowhawk makes a move on a murmuration, the starlings show how threat – in the shape of flood, climate change or illness – may be faced down.
Jasmine Donahaye is in pursuit of feeling 'sharply alive', understanding things on her own terms and undoing old lessons about how to behave. Here, she finally confronts fear: of violence and of the body's betrayals, daring at last, to 'get things wrong'.
Roaming across Wales, Scotland, California and the Middle East, she is unapologetically focused on the uniqueness of women's experience of nature and the constraints placed upon it. Sometimes bristling, always ethical, Birdsplaining upends familiar ways of seeing the natural world.
Jasmine Donahaye’s work has appeared in the New York Times and The Guardian, and her documentary, Statue No 1, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Her books include the memoir, Losing Israel (2015), winner of the nonfiction category in the Wales Book of the Year award; a biography of author Lily Tobias, The Greatest Need (2015), the basis for O Ystalyfera i Israel, broadcast by S4C; the cultural study Whose People? Wales, Israel, Palestine (2012), and two collections of poetry: Misappropriations Self-Portrait as Ruth (2009). She is a part-time professor of Creative Writing at Swansea University, and a fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.
"[...] you might expect that the whole book is a rant about the type of male twitcher who talks down to knowledgeable female birders or ignores them completely, preferring to talk to their mystified, non-birding male partners. It is not – although it discusses this issue – it is much, much more interesting than that. This book is a collection of 14 essays, about birds and Jasmine’s relationship with them. It is well observed and often very personal [...] When necessary, the book is well-researched and includes references and links to topics as diverse as poetry, agoraphobia, mammal scat, bird videos and webcams. If you have not already done so – read this book – it’s brilliant!"
– Denise Wawman, Ibis, 2023
"Unusual, vivid [...] remarkably easy-to-read & enjoyable. Doesn't shy away from taking on difficult subjects [...] A means for personal reflection"
– BTO News (British Trust for Ornithology)
"Jasmine Donahaye is the thinking person's birder. She forensically dismantles romantic cliches in nature writing and produces a fresh, modern account of her life in and out of nature"
– Gwyneth Lewis
"Vivid, quick and iridescent, Birdsplaining is an absolute kingfisher of a book"
– Mike Parker
"An erudite, bold, questing and valid collection of beautifully written essays. Whilst one eye stays focused on the injustices and cruelties of the world, the other gulps in its jewels and preciousness. Moving, stirring, and vital."
– Niall Griffiths
"Superb [...] by turns moving, funny, illuminating [...] and [...] thought-provoking"
– Katherine Stansfield, GoodReads
"Upends familiar ways of seeing the natural world – and in doing so, creates its own ecological niche"
– Karen Lloyd, Caught by the River
"A curiosity and passion so unapologetically alive that her words form wings"
– Lotte Williams, Nation.Cymru
"Neither human-centred nor its opposite. Although she explores human grief, violence and recovery, Donahaye also has a beautifully conveyed passion for the unromantic aspects of the environment [...] She bridges the very gap [in nature writing] that she identifies."
– Saskia McCracken, The Welsh Agenda
"Whilst birds might not provide the answer to the meaning of life for Donahaye, they do have a part to play in finding meaning IN life, whether that be through personal symbolism and anecdotal encounters, or in larger questions about power and responsibility."
– Gwales.com
"A fresh way of looking at nature writing, a deeply personal account that embraces its own subjectivity"
– Zoe Kramer, Wales Arts Review
"This is a beautiful collection where the nonhuman appears as a close neighbour [...] [and which] searches for hope and resilience in times of risk."
– Yvonne Reddick, New Welsh Reader
"In fracturing, polarised times we need writing like this, that has the breadth and honesty to grasp it whole."
– Philip Gross
"Donahaye [...] invents a new, feminist springboard for observing the way birds live their lives and the way we perceive them. Sharp, fiercely intelligent, courageous."
– Pamela Petro
"Donahaye dilates poetic moments while also examining what we have internalised about privilege and power in the field of birdwatching. I loved it."
– Kathryn Aalto, New York Times bestseller
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