Learning the Birds

Available April 2022, from Three Hills, an imprint of Cornell University Press.
To learn more and to preorder the book, click below.

My Reach

Cornell University Press, 2010.
To learn more and to order the book, click below.

In this collection, writers explore and celebrate their lives with and love for birds--detailing experiences from Alaska to Bermuda, South Dakota to Panama. In When Birds Are Near, fresh new voices, as well as seasoned authors, offer tales of adventure, perseverance, and fun, whether taking us on a journey down Highway 1 to see a rare California Condor, fighting the destruction of our grasslands, or simply watching the feeder from a kitchen window.

But these essays are more than just field notes. The authors reflect on love, loss, and family, engaging a broad array of emotions, from wonder to amusement. As Rob Nixon writes, Sometimes the best bird experiences are defined less by a rare sighting than by a quality of presence, some sense of overall occasion that sets in motion memories of a particular landscape, a particular light, a particular choral effect, a particular hiking partner. Or, as the poet Elizabeth Bradfield remarks, We resonate with certain animals, I believe, because they are a physical embodiment of an answer we are seeking. A sense of ourselves in the world that is nearly inexpressible.

When Birds Are Near gives us the chance to walk alongside these avid appreciators of birds and reflect on our own interactions with our winged companions.

When Birds are Near is an extraordinary exploration of the many intersections — strange, exhilarating, heartbreaking, transformative—between people and birds. Grassland sparrows cross paths with nuclear missiles, narcotics smugglers with the ghosts of giant woodpeckers, migrants avian and human on the far edge of nowhere. The writing in this collection is literary cream, as uniformly superb as its insights are illuminating.

—Scott Weidensaul, author of Living on the Wind

What might we call a loosely affiliated group of writers writing about birds? A flock? A covey? A caldron? A kettle? A chain? A chatter? Certainly not a murder. I would choose ‘murmuration‘ for what is revealed within When Birds are Near. These essays rise from the page with a startling yet commonplace wonder in a time we need such glory.

—John Lane, Author of Neighborhood Hawks

From gods to goddesses to indicators of ecosystem health, birds have been in our lives for millennia. We ignore them at our peril. We watch them with delight. This rangy and wonderful collection reminds us that human and avian sinew are entrained together in time. That we travel together along flyways of wonder, heartbreak, kinship and more.

—Christopher Cokinos, author of Hope Is the Thing with Feathers

2007 Silver Medal from the Society of American Travel Writers.

I always wanted to go to Antarctica. The question was how to get there. As I typed up the author bios for my collections I noticed that Lucy Jane Bledsoe—who has contributed to almost every single one of my anthologies—and Gretchen Legler had gone to the ice on an Artists and Writers fellowship from the National Science Foundation. I wanted this award! So I proposed to pull together a collection along the lines of my Alaska book: get people who had lived and worked in Antarctica to write about what it is really like to be there. What’s it like to be a dishwasher at the south pole? Or a cook at Palmer station? I heard later that the panel was initially skeptical: how could I get an electrician to write? But they decided to give me a chance. I traveled to McMurdo station for six weeks in 2004-2005 and met scientists and bulldozer drivers and begged for stories. People who work in Antarctica are often storytellers. As it turns out, good story tellers.

The book was selected as part of the International Polar Year.

And I did many readings, meeting my writers throughout the country. Here’s a link to one reading.

Blog Talk Radio hosted a show where some of my writers called in from McMurdo and from Cape Royds to answer questions about Antarctica. Click here to listen to the show.

Of all of my collections, Solo has inspired more women, not just to venture out but to write about their adventures. I know this because every year I get letters from readers around the world who write of finding kinship in this group of women writers. The idea for the collection came from my then-editor Holly Morris (now of Adventure Divas fame) at Seal Press. There is a revised edition of Solo, with two new essays. And, Solo led to Going Alone, another collection of vivid tales of women venturing into the outdoors on their own.

“A very impressive collection of travel pieces by women who took to the byways—road, river, and trail—with only themselves as company. Crackingly good writing throughout, a heady stew rich with savory chunks of information for those, women or men, wishing to go it alone.”

  - Kirkus Reviews
 
“How refreshing to find a book about the outdoors that addresses issues peculiar to women, such as the guilt of leaving the family and the fear of meeting a male while alone in the wilderness. The book will appeal to armchair travelers and women seeking inspiration and adventure.”       

  - Library Journal

Going Alone is the sequel to Solo. Sequels are often hard—it’s hard to live up to that first great movie, TV show, or in this case book. But Going Alone is its own book, filled with beautiful, remarkable stories. What struck me in putting this together is that women venturing into the outdoors had changed since my first collection (Another Wilderness). A lot of the fear and questions women had—is it ok to leave the family to do this? Is it safe to travel alone? Were replaced with an energy to push the limits, whether cycling or sailing out with sharks in the Provincetown bay. In my early collections, I did not include my own writing (nothing was good enough!), but I do have an essay in this book, titled “The Temptations of Two.”

“Men should not feel excluded by this title; these are universal tales of pitting oneself against danger in the wild. Each of the solo adventures is a gem to read, taking you into outdoor settings that are harrowing, yet beautiful—a pleasing journey even if your real life ventures don’t take you farther outdoors than your parking lot.”

  - Anne Chalfant, Contra Costa Times

Women on the Verge was the brain child of my editor, Keith Kahla. “I always wanted to publish a book with the title, “Women on the Verge.” So I sent him a proposal and assembled this eclectic collection that explores the "ecstatic moment" in lesbian life - those clarifying and defining experiences (outside of sex and/or romance) that often bring life into sharp focus. Essays are varied, from one that reveals "being" Superman as a kid to one on rafting and another on skydiving; one writer gets arrested for political activism and another is overwhelmed by the complicated urge to procreate. Together, these essays seek to represent the unexplored territory in modern lesbian life. Including work from Lucy Jane Bledsoe, Marcia Munson, Karla Jay, Linnea Due, among many others, these personal essays and memoirs with their sharp insight and complexly rendered moments, pairing humor with serious political thought, make up a wholly original and utterly compelling anthology.

Short fiction collections are always a great way to bring out new writers or to reveal a range of form and subject. That was my goal with this collection, to pair known writers with younger voices and to see where lesbian-identified writers traveled in their imagination. In Close Calls I pulled together twenty-one new stories that reflect the complexity and richness of lesbian life today, exploring a wide range of topics such as family, love and loss, children, violence, and sex. I brought together both established and new writers, including Ruthann Robson, Donna Allegra, Gwendolyn Bikis, Linda Smukler (Sam Ace), Wickie Stamps, Anna Livia, among many others. Close Calls showcases the innovative and provocative writing that makes lesbian fiction today.

A collection that is without exception well written, original, and compelling.

-Library Journal

This superb treasury is a must for your bookshelf. Susan Fox Rogers has gathered some remarkable writers onto these pages, and they provide wide-ranging, involving, altogether striking glimpses into our lives. Seldom will you find stories of greater dimension or quality.

-Katherine V. Forrest, author of Liberty Square

Close Calls provides a revealing survey of lesbian lives-young and old; black, white, and Asian-and deserves to find an audience of both lesbian and mainstream readers.

-Booklist

This book reflects the reality of lesbian life and deserves the attention and readers that ‘Women on Women’ series has garnered. Once again, Rogers demonstrates her skill in fashioning anthologies to mirror our culture.

-Lamda Rising Book Report

After all of my focus on women alone outdoors I wanted to think about what it meant to travel with someone else. This collection explores the range of pleasures (or not) of being with another traveling a friend, mother, or daughter. I have an essay in this collection about backcountry skiing with my friend Teri.

My friend and former colleague, Gary Luke (formerly the editorial director of Sasquatch Books), handed me this incredible book project. I had edited a few anthologies but knew little about Alaska. We were in a bookstore together and he mused, “I should probably publish a collection on Alaska.” “Yes,” I agreed, “and I should edit it.” Thus began a love affair with that cold, beautiful state. I traveled the next summer throughout the state, finding authors, and tacking my call for submissions to every bill board I could find. And then the stories started to roll in. “I found your call for submissions in the Laundromat in Talkeetna. Here’s my story,” one man wrote. And there was his 35-page story of driving to McCarthy. I met amazing people and read of amazing places. The idea for this collection was to avoid the clichés and the big stories—no climbing Denali or winning the Iditarod. And my writers did just that as they revealed the truth of raising a child in the bush or crossing a picket line to teach in Fairbanks.

Alaska Passages is an impressive anthology of original, true stories of adventure, work, life, and place in the last frontier. Through these twenty fresh views of Alaska, the wild place finds a voice of its own, and an unexpected Alaska emerges. Readers will share a woman's musk-ox hunting tripe in the Arctic; the personal politics of a teachers' strike in Anchorage; the shifting social currents that develop when natives mix with newcomers; a harrowing sailboat race around Admiralty Island; and a fantastic encounter with elfin apparitions on a cold snow night. Alaska demands a different mettle from its people than most of the lower forty-eight, and these engaging essays express that robust spirit.

  - Midwest Book Review

Another Wilderness was my first collection. I had left my job as an editor at New American Library (a branch of Penguin USA) and wanted to continue editing. I also wanted to create the book I wanted to read. I had been rock climbing since I was 15 and had found few tales that described my focus and enthusiasm for this outdoor sport. So I tracked down writers who were also passionate about outdoor sports—backcountry skiing, surfing, hiking, mountain climbing, snorkeling. The first printing sold out in a month.

"What most of the writers have in common is an acute and graceful self-awareness, a quality all to rare in adventure writing...Women reading this collection will easily find kindred spirits, and be encouraged to find their own wilder selves."

  - Women's Review of Books

“The beautifully wrought prose of Another Wilderness comes alive not so much through the authors’ machisma as through their willingness to explore fear, pain, and the complicated motivations that occasionally cause them to go beyond what is reasonable and safe.”

  - Utne Reader

I am writing this in the wake of New York legalizing gay marriage so all I can say is: we’ve come a long way, baby. When I published this book in 1998, the notion of “home” seemed tame for the writers who contributed these stories. Not everyone wants a white-picket-fence (and not everyone wants to be married!). These essays showed the range of dreams for two women creating a life together. Some of the titles might give you a taste for the collection: “Home-Phobia,” by Margaret Vandenburg, or “A Lesbian Homebody,” by Judith Nichols.

Nominated for a Lambda Literary Award

Sportsdykes was published at a wonderful time in lesbian writing and life. Girljocks, the ‘zine was flourishing in San Francisco and the Gay Games were in full swing. The collection is political, but only to the extent that anything having to do with women and sports and anything lesbian is political.  Really, this is a celebration of an aspect of lesbian life—the jock side of lesbian life. It was a lot of fun to put together in those long-ago days before the internet. I have long letters from my contributors and had hilarious conversations with them by phone. Creating this book felt like entering into a particularly fun and smart locker room.

This collection kicks the gym locker door open with a bang! A must read."

  - Outlines

“SportsDykes” is a slam-dunk, a home run, a knockout—all accomplished with a playful but powerful lesbian touch.”      

  - Joan Nestle

“SportsDykes is full of kinky pleasures: playing, watching, winning, falling in love. Essential reading for both gay and straight women, this book admits all our feelings to the game.”    

  - Julie Phillips, Ms.

Linda (Sam) and I set a task for a set of lesbian writers: write a piece together. Writing with another person—a sort of conversation—is counter to what writers do most of the time. Writing is a solitary endeavor. To write with someone is fun in many ways—ideas and voice shift. If you have never written with someone, try it. I know that an editor is not supposed to have favorites, but in this case, I do. Lucy Jane Bledsoe (who has contributed to many of my anthologies) wrote a piece with her partner, Pat Mullan who is a trombonist. So to Lucy’s words, Pat responds with music. I think I know exactly what she is saying in their piece, “Morning.”

Several chapters are available here.