Creature Needs Writers Respond to the Science of Animal Conservation

About this book

A kaleidoscopic literary exploration of extinction and conservation, inspired by the latest scientific research

Creature Needs is a polyvocal call to arms about animal extinction and habitat loss that harnesses the power of literature and scientific research to move us, and stir our hearts and minds, toward action and change. A collection of new literary works by prominent writers paired with excerpts from recent scientific articles that inspired and informed them, this innovative anthology engages the collaborative, cross-disciplinary spirit and energy that is necessary to address the impact of humans on all other animals on our planet.

Divided into six sections representing the basic needs for survival – air, food, water, shelter, room to move, and each other – the stories and poems in Creature Needs vividly portray how these essential conditions are under assault through climate change, habitat loss, plastic and industrial pollution, and human intervention in natural landscapes. As the dominant species on Earth, humans not only control access to survival resources, but we also overconsume and harm them. Rather than surrender to despair, the writers here believe that we have the power, if we choose, to change course and protect these resources.

A collaboration with the nonprofit organisation Creature Conserve, Creature Needs is a path-setting fusion of literary art and scientific research that deepens our understanding of the interdependence between life and habitat, illuminating the stark choices we face to conserve resources and ensure that the basic needs of all species are met.

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Biography

Christopher Kondrich, poet in residence at Creature Conserve, is the author of Valuing, winner of the National Poetry Series, and Contrapuntal. His writing has been published in The Believer, The Kenyon Review, and The Paris Review.

Lucy Spelman is the founder of Creature Conserve, a nonprofit dedicated to combining art with science to cultivate new pathways for wildlife conservation. A zoological medicine veterinarian, she teaches biology at the Rhode Island School of Design and is the author of National Geographic Kids Animal Encyclopedia and coeditor of The Rhino with Glue-On Shoes.

Susan Tacent, writer in residence at Creature Conserve, is a writer, scholar, and educator whose fiction has been published in Blackbird, DIAGRAM, and Tin House Online.


Contributors:
- Kazim Ali
- Mary-Kim Arnold
- Ramona Ausubel
- David Baker
- Charles Baxter
- Aimee Bender
- Kimberly Blaeser
- Oni Buchanan
- Tina Cane
- Ching-In Chen
- MOnica de la Torre
- Tongo Eisen-Martin
- Thalia Field
- Ben Goldfarb
- Annie Hartnett
- Sean Hill
- Hester Kaplan
- Donika Kelly
- Robin McLean
- Miranda Mellis
- Rajiv Mohabir
- Kyoko Mori
- David Naimon
- Craig Santos Perez
- Beth Piatote
- Rena Priest
- Alberto RIos
- ElEna Rivera
- Sofia Samatar
- Sharma Shields
- Eleni Sikelianos
- Maggie Smith
- Juliana Spahr
- Tim Sutton
- Jodie Noel Vinson
- Asiya Wadud
- Claire Wahmanholm
- Marco Wilkinson
- Jane Wong