Terry Tempest Williams: Coyote Clan

This site is a gathering place and resource for information related to the life and work of Terry Tempest Williams, author, naturalist, and environmental activist. Hailed a "visionary" by the Utne Reader, Terry Tempest Williams is a passionate advocate for the preservation of the American Western wilderness.

News	[ Updated April 24, 2008 ] Upcoming Events**

Wyoming Weather Reports

Join Terry Tempest Williams and creative writing students as they head out across the great state of Wyoming to "take the pulse of the community" and gauge the weather... Weather Reports.
Here are some recent articles that reference "Weather Reports." Read a New York Times Opinion piece written by Alexandra Fuller, entitled "Recovering from Wyoming's Energy Bender," published on April 20, 2008. Read "Why this Wyoming Mother Writes," by Beth Howard, published in the Caspar Star-Tribune, published on April 12, 2008.

Terry Tempest Williams' new book, "MOSAIC: Finding Beauty in a Broken World" will be published by Pantheon in October, 2008.

The Open Space of Democracy, was published by The Orion Society in September, 2004. [Currently out of print.]

The Orion Society Thoughts on America Intiative sponsored the Open Space of Democracy Tour, a national, multi-media tour of conciliation and dialogue on the paramount question of leadership in America. The Orion Society posted Terry's thoughts during her tour in an online "Democracy Diary." The first part of the Democracy Diary was also featured in Grist Magazine.

The Progressive features an interview of Terry Tempest Williams, available as a podcast from Progressive Radio, posted on November 5, 2007. Download or listen online here.

Listen to a podcast of a conversation between the artist Robert Shetterly and Terry Tempest Williams from radio station WERU 89.9 in Blue Hill, Maine, that played on the audio magazine "Weekend Voices" on June 30, 2007, and was recorded on May 18, 2007. Listen to it here.

Read an article entitled "Out of Rwanda: eloquence, forgiveness-- Tutsi in Salt Lake tells stories of fear, death and dogs," by Elaine Jarvik, published by the Deseret News on June 15, 2007.

The Lannan Foundation sponsored a reading by Terry Tempest Williams from her upcoming book, Mosaic: Finding Beauty in a Broken World and a conversation with Christopher Merrill, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on May 30, 2007. Christopher Merrill is a poet, non-fiction author, and director of the University of Iowa's International Writing Program. The Santa Fe New Mexican published an article entitled To sing the body dialectic, by Sandy Nelson, on May 25, 2007, about the event. The Lannan Foundation has a podcast of both Terry's reading and her conversation with Christopher Merrill available here.

Read an article entitledThe Power of Storytelling: Nature writer Terry Tempest Williams challenges us to take part in spirited conversation and honest storytelling, by Jena Ball, in the June/July 2007 issue of Mother Earth News.

Terry Tempest Williams, will be the University of Wyoming's first "Eminent Writer-in-Residence" during the 2007-2008 academic year.

North Country Public Radio has a podcast of Terry Tempest Williams speaking at Paul Smiths College, the College of the Adirondacks, in Paul Smiths, NY, April 326, 2007, at a program sponsored by the Adirondack Center for Writing.

Read Art as a Spark for Social Change, by Terry Tempest Williams, on the Worldchanging.com web site, published on April 19, 2007, in honor of Earth Day.
Terry was one of the Barefoot Artists who accompanied Lily Yeh to Rwanda in 2005 and 2007. Learn more about the Rwanda Healing Project on the barefootartists.org web site.

SNEWS Live sat down one-on-one with Terry Tempest Williams following her keynote address at the Conservation Alliance's annual meeting during Outdoor Retailer Winter Market 2007, in Salt Lake City, UT. The topic of the interview was the role that art and poetry can play in creating a life dedicated to conservation and sustainability. The interview is available online as a podcast, posted on March 2, 2007.

Terry Tempest Williams was interviewed by Marcia Franklin of Dialogue, a show on Idaho Public Television. Terry was in Idaho to receive the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Western American Literature Association in October, 2006. The program aired on December 28, 2006, is wide-ranging, and you can view or listen to it online from the Idaho Public Television web site. There are several streams and formats to choose from.

Utah State University Press has published a book of interviews entitled A Voice in the Wilderness: Conversations with Terry Tempest Williams, edited by Michael Austin, (August, 2006). Milkweed Editions published Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast, written by Edward Abbey, edited by David Petersen and with a Foreword by Terry Tempest Williams, in August, 2006. Trinity University Press published Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape, edited by Barry Lopez and Debra Gwartney. 45 poets and writers contributed to this book, including Terry Tempest Williams.

Radio Expeditions, a co-production of NPR and the National Geographic Society presented "50 Years on, a Passion for the Wild Endures, by Elizabeth Arnold, on July 26, 2006. In July of 1956, wilderness activists Olaus and Mardy Murie made an expedition to the upper Sheenjek River of Alaska's Brooks Range to inventory the wonders of an all-but-untouched wilderness. Their survey of the region set in motion the effort to protect what is now the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Photos, video, and the radio program are available online here.

Introduced by Nina Simons, Terry Tempest Williams gave a very personal keynote address at the Bioneers Conference, October, 2004. View it online here. (Requires Real Player.)

Read about Terry Tempest Williams' visit to Pacific Lutheran University in April, 2006, in an article on their web site entitlted Terry Tempest Williams encourages students to ask questions.

Photographer Edward Riddell and Terry Tempest Williams have collaborated on a book entitled The Range of Memory. It is a beautifully printed 120-page coffee table book, 12"x12", with 58 black and white photographs gorgeously reproduced in tritone (three shades of black and gray), with two essays by Terry Tempest Williams. The photographs focus on the Jackson Hole area. The book is published by Clark City Press in Livingston, Montana.
Read a review of The Range of Memory published in New West, a Bozeman, MT, paper. The review is entitled Beauty Unflinching: Riddell's Photo Book "The Range of Memory" Warrants Comparisons to Adams, written by Todd Wilkinson, and published on April 6, 2006. You can read it here.

A Dartmouth student shares about a graduate luncheon conversation with Terry Tempest Williams, while she was a Montgomery Fellow in residence at Dartmouth in February, 2006. Read it here. Read more about her Dartmouth visit here. Read an article on Terry's presentation on community at Filene Auditorium on February 21st, published in "The Dartmouth." The Valley News, of Hanover, New Hampshire, also published an article on February 18, 2006, about the Montgomery Fellowship and Terry's time at Dartmouth.

Hawaii Public Radio offers a brief podcast of Terry Tempest Williams on Ethics and Politics of Place, on December 29, 2005. Listen online.

Sebastião Salgado discussed his photo exhibit "Exodus," a visual chronicle depicting the global movement of refugees and immigrants throughout 40 different countries, in his speech during "An Evening of Conscience" on December 1, 2005, in Salt Lake City, UT. The event also featured award-winning author Terry Tempest Williams and Mexican poet and former diplomat Homero Aridjis. NPR aired a story on December 11, 2005, about Salgado's work. Listen to the program here. Public radio station KUER broadcast a Radio West segment entitled "Exodus and an Evening of Conscience" on December 1. (MP3).

Read an article entitled Trio's talk will be a force of nature, by John Marshall, Seattle Post Intelligencer, published December 2, 2005. The article discusses the collaboration of photographer Subhankar Banerjee, ornithologist David Allen Sibley, and author and activist Terry Tempest Williams.

Read From the Pit of Despair, a Voice of Hope, author and activist Terry Tempest Williams returns from Rwanda with a vision of despair and a message of hope, by Rick Kleffel, an article published by Metro Santa Cruz, a Santa Cruz weekly, in the November 2-9 issue.

Water~Stone Review is an annual review published by the Graduate School of Liberal Studies at Hamline University. The 2005 issue (Volume 8), has just been published, and is entitled Light Keepers. Water~Stone Review also publishes an annual Meridel Le Sueur Essay that honors Le Sueur's focus on social, political, and communal concerns. The current issue features the Meridel Le Sueur Essay, "My Brother's Bones," written by Terry Tempest Williams.

"We Leave Our Doors Wide Open," is an inteview with Terry Tempest Williams published on Terrain.org, Issue No. 17 - Fall/Winter 2005, available online here.

"White flags and cotton grass," by Terry Tempest Williams, was published August 27, 2005, in the Viewpoints section of the Daily News of Bangor, Maine. Same article online at Orion Society web site entitled A Season of Remembrance.

There is an article entitled Of Red Rock and Rebellion, by Ann M. Colford, published in the Pacific Northwest Inlander on April 28, 2005, that was written as a prelude to Terry's visit to Spokane Community College and describes events of last year's "Open Space of Democracy" book tour.

"Where in the World are We Going? How Nature, Cities and Cultures Can Flourish in the 21st Century," is a very interesting two hour panel discussion that took place in Seattle, WA, on April 6, 2005. The Society for Ecological Restoration Northwest and People For Puget Sound presented this conversation with Terry Tempest Williams, Andrew Light, Stuart Cowan, Alex Steffen, and David Conrad about how to protect the natural environment with the tools and concepts of sustainable cities and culture. The event was held at Town Hall in Seattle. The video can be viewed online (scroll down to Town Hall Presents Terry Tempest Williams and friends, April 6, 2005). (Requires Real Player plugin.)

Terry Tempest Williams contributed to an article entitled "Sin City: So tell us ...what's your dirty little environmental secret?" by Lou Bendrick, published by Grist Magazine on April 19, 2005. Readers may also add their own confessions in the Gristmill blog.

Terry Tempest Williams has written "An Open Letter to Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska" regarding the Senate vote to allow drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Orion Society has the letter online, along with background information and links to other resources. Also visit the Alaska Wilderness League web site. They are spearheading a campaign to protect the Arctic Refuge.

Terry Tempest Williams wrote a poem to honor the memory of writer, artist, and naturalist Ellen Meloy, who passed away suddenly in November, 2004. Information about Ellen's books, tributes (including the poem), photographs, and information about the Ellen Meloy Memorial Fund are all available on Ellen Meloy's web site.

The February, 2005, issue of The Progressive contains an interview with Terry Tempest Williams by David Kupfer. Read it online.

The cover story in the Salt Lake City Weekly, published December 23, 2004, is entitled "Tempest Tossed: For Utah naturalist and author Terry Tempest Williams, 2004 was another year of speaking dangerously," by Jake Parkinson. You can read the article online.

The Wilderness Act 40th Anniversary Wilderness Advocacy Week took place in Washington, D.C., September 18-22, 2004. More than 300 participants from two-dozen states were expected to descend on the nation's Capitol for a week of training, celebrations and educating members of Congress about wilderness protection efforts around the country. Read an article published in the Deseret News September 20, 2004, about the 40th Anniversary Gala dinner at the National Press Club. See the Wilderness Society web site for more information.

On August 9, 2004, NPR's Talk of the Nation radio program featured 150 Years of Walden, a story about the 150th anniversary of the publication of Henry David Thoreau's Walden. Terry Tempest Williams participated in this radio program and it can be heard online. Terry Tempest Williams also wrote the foreward for Shambala's special anniversary edition of Walden, with wood engravings by Michael McCurdy.

The third essay in a three part series written by Terry Tempest Williams was published in the July/August 2004 issue of Orion Magazine. The essay is entitled, "Engagement," and is accompanied by beautiful paintings by the artist Mary Frank. You can read an excerpt of this article online at the Orion Society's web site. All three essays in this series will be made available in a book, The Open Space of Democracy, in August 2004.

Terry Tempest Williams participated in dedication ceremonies for a new visitor center at the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve. The Nature Conservancy purchased the land to create a wetlands sanctuary for millions of migrating bird. Read an article published June 20, 2004, "Nature preserve gets a new 'nest'," by Donna Kemp Spangler, in the Deseret News.

The second essay in a three part series written by Terry Tempest Williams was published in the May/June 2004 issue of Orion Magazine. Featuring the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the essay is entitled, "Ground Truthing - An Open Journal from the Arctic," and is accompanied by beautiful paintings by the artist Mary Frank. You can read an excerpt of this article online at the Orion Society's web site. Visit the Alaska Wilderness League web site for updates about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
March 24, 2004 marked the 15th anniversary of the catastrophic Exxon Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska - the worst environmental disaster this nation has ever seen. To remind people of the subsequent devastation of the 11 million gallon spill, the Alaska Wilderness League crafted a flash animation movie to view and share with those who might want to know more about the threats to Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Take a moment to view the two-minute film, help prevent another Valdez disaster and protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Read an article in the Thursday, March 25, 2004, issue of La Crosse Tribune, entitled "Author urges contemplation, action on nature," by Geri Parlin.

Read an article in the Sunday, March 21, 2004, issue of Deseret News entitled "Reflective Activism," by Susan Whitney. The article is about Terry Tempest Williams' appointment as the Annie Tanner Fellow at the University of Utah's new graduate program in environmental studies, the Lyceum II lecture, and community environmental activism and dialogue. See the Lyceum II poster which is illustrated with a beautiful painting by the artist Mary Frank. (Requires Acrobat).

The March/April 2004 edition of Orion Magazine contains the first essay of a three part series by Terry Tempest Williams, entitled, "Commencement: The Open Space of Democracy." Read an excerpt from this essay online at the Orion Society web site, with beautiful accompanying paintings by the artist Mary Frank.

Mardy Murie, a passionate protector of wilderness in general, and Alaska in particular, and one of Terry's heroes and mentors, passed away on October 19, 2003. NPR aired a piece on Mardy's life and work on October 20, and there is also a clip from the video Arctic Dance. More information on Mardy's life and legacy is available at The Murie Center website.

The Obert C. and Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center of the University of Utah, in conjunction with the College of Humanities, announced the three-year appointment of Terry Tempest Williams as the Annie Clark Tanner Fellow in Environmental Studies. The fellowship began in the fall of 2004. (Press release issued on October 13, 2003.)

Terry Tempest Williams spent the week of March 31, 2003, at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas, as part of the National Book Foundation's American Voices community outreach project. Mike Caron has written to the Community Comments section of coyoteclan.com about the piece he had published in the September 6, 2003, issue of Lawrence Journal World entitled Kansas, Utah Projects Parallel. The piece draws from some of the conversations that took place during Terry's visit regarding the Legacy Parkway project in Utah and the South Lawrence Trafficway project in Kansas. Both projects involve paving over wetlands. You can also read an account of the 2003 American Voices Residency on the National Book Foundation web site.

"Surveying the Literary Landscapes of Terry Tempest Williams: New Critical Essays," edited by Katherine R. Chandler and Melissa A. Goldthwaite was published in October, 2003, by the University of Utah Press.

Photographer Rosalie Winard and Terry Tempest Williams are collaborating on a book entitled Avian Primitives: Large Birds of the Wetlands, to benefit Utah Open Lands. An article describing the book and a photography exhibit, entitled "Show Takes a Flight of Fancy," by Leezel Tanglao, was published in the Salt Lake Tribune, June 15, 2003.

May 2, 2003, Terry Tempest Williams received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities from the University of Utah. Read the 2003 University of Utah Commencement Address by Terry Tempest Williams entitled "The Open Space of Democracy". Dick Dorworth's column in the Idaho Mountain Express, published June 25, 2003, entitled "On patriots, patriotism, and the Patriot Act," quotes from the Open Space of Democracy.

United for Peace and Justice and Code Pink were two groups that helped sponsor a peace march that took place on International Women's Day, 2003, in Washington, D.C. Terry Tempest Williams, Alice Walker, Maxine Hong Kingston, Starhawk and many others participated, and some were arrested. Also, Indy Media has some great photos of the March 8 D.C. peace march on their website. Read an essay by Nina Utne on the Utne Reader website on the march and subsequent arrests. An email circulated containing excerpts from Terry about her experience at the rally.

Wind Over the Earth music has released the CD, "Refuge: Passages from the Book." This CD is an intimate retelling of passages from the book Refuge, read by Terry Tempest Williams, in collaboration with musicians David Darling and Nancy Rumbel. Hear two audio clips from this CD in Real Audio format (requires plugin). Track 9 (1:05). Track 11 (1:14).

Terry Tempest Williams visited the Environmental Studies Program at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, in February, 2003. She gave a lecture entitled Memoirs of an Environmentalist. View information, photos, and Quicktime video clips from her lecture.

Terry Tempest Williams and thousands of others joined in a grassroots effort for peace, Poets Against the War. In 2003, Sam Hamill (writer, founding editor and co-founder of Copper Canyon Press), sent an open letter to a few friends "asking every poet to speak up for the conscience of our country and lend his or her name to our petition against this war". Word spread like wildfire from mailbox to mailbox, and thousands of poets submitted poems or personal statements to register their opposition to the Bush administration's headlong plunge toward war in Iraq. In doing so, they have honored a long and rich tradition of thoughtful and moral opposition by poets and other artists to senseless and murderous policies, including those of our own government.
Poets Against the War announced an International Day of Poetry Against the War on Wednesday, March 5. Poets around the world scheduled readings and/or discussions of poetry and protest for that day. At noon on March 5th on Capitol Hill, approximately 15,000 anti-war poems were presented to members of Congress. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) hosted the event with other members of the Progressive Caucus including Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA). The poems were presented by Pulitzer prize winner and Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets W.S. Merwin, author and poet Terry Tempest Williams and founding editor of Copper Canyon Press Sam Hamill. Read an account of this event here.

The New York Times published an op-ed piece by Terry Tempest Williams on February 2, 2003, entitled In the Shadow of Extinction, about the plight of the prairie dog (NY Times website requires login). On January 21, 2003, a coalition of six conservation groups, plus author Terry Tempest Williams, formally petitioned the Bureau of Land Management to designate key white-tailed prairie dog colonies as Areas of Critical Environmental Concern. On July 11, 2002 -- The Center for Native Ecosystems led a coalition of seven conservation groups and author Terry Tempest Williams in petitioning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the white-tailed prairie dog under the Endangered Species Act. White-tailed prairie dogs form an indispensible part of the "Sagebrush Sea" of central and western Wyoming, northwestern Colorado and northeastern Utah. There is extensive background information on the Center for Native Ecosystems website. Also, read this article in the Billings Gazette, entitled "Groups petition for protection of white-tailed prairie dog," by Clair Johnson, July 12, 2002. Issue 19 of Creative Nonfiction, the journal devoted exclusively to the nonfiction genre, is Diversity Dialogues, which contains an essay by Terry Tempest Williams, entitled "Prayer Dogs."

April, 2003, the University of Virginia published Turning to Earth: Stories of Ecological Conversion, by F. Marina Shauffler. An opening portrait of the writer and activist Terry Tempest Williams traces her deepening devotion to Earth. Each subsequent chapter explores a key element of ecological conversion, drawing primarily on the personal testimony of Williams and five other pioneering writers: Rachel Carson, Alice Walker, Edward Abbey, Scott Russell Sanders, and N. Scott Momaday.

The Public Lands Information Center is making available a free book Lands That We Love: Americans Talk About America's Public Lands, which is a collection of moving essays and spectacular photographs which illustrate how public lands are not only important to us as a nation, but also personally meaningful. The book was published as part of the effort during the 2002 Winter Olympics to raise awareness about public lands. Contributors include Jim Stiles, Terry Tempest Williams and Mark Spragg, and Katie Lee, among a host of others.

The Roadless Yaak: Reflections and Observations About One of Our Last Great Wilderness Areas, is a collection of essays edited by Rick Bass, and published by Lyons Press in August, 2002. This collection of essays was published on behalf of the Yaak Valley and the importance of the 6 million acres of unprotected Forest Service roadless areas in Montana. Terry Tempest Williams has an included essay entitled "Whirlwind in the Yaak". Find more info about the Yaak Valley Forest Council at Orion Grassroots Network, or by writing to Yaak Valley Forest Council, 155 Riverview, Troy, MT 59935 or send e-mails to claymtn@hotmail.com. In mid-September, 2002, Living on Earth radio created a whole series on The Roadless Yaak, with readings by several of the authors. Archives at Orion Online contain a video clip entitled Saving the Roadless Yaak, with authors Rick Bass, Richard Nelson, Robert Michael Pyle, Janisse Ray, and Terry Tempest Williams. (Requires QuickTime player.)

A book of photographer Emmet Gowin's work, "Emmet Gowin: Changing the Earth," was published by Yale University Press in conjunction with an exhibition at Yale University Art Gallery in 2002, and contained 90 of these photographs, which are a culmination of Gowin's work for the past 15 years. The book was written by Jock Reynolds, the curator of the exhibition, with essays by Philip Brookman and Terry Tempest Williams. There is also an interview with Emmet Gowin, and a photo essay on the PBS/NOW with Bill Moyers website, June 21,2002. There is also an interview with Terry Tempest Williams about Gowin's work, published December 4, 2003, in the Tucson Weekly newspaper and entitled Useless Beauty. This article was written to publicize Terry's reading at the Center for Creative Photography.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, CA, presents an exhibit "Jellies, Living Art" which opened on April 8, 2002 and is still running in 2005. In conjunction with the opening of this exhibit, the Aquarium has published a dazzling book of the same name, with exquisite photography of the jellies and luminous essays written by and Judith L. Connor and Nora L. Deans. The book includes a foreward by Terry Tempest Williams.

In observance of The Nature Conservancy's 50th anniversary, an exhibition of photographs exploring and celebrating the natural world opened at the Corcoran Gallery of Art on September 15, 2001, entitled In Response to Place: Photographs from The Nature Conservancy's Last Great Places. This exhibition will tour through mid 2005. There is also a book released by the same name, by Bulfinch Press, a division of Time/Warner Books. Terry Tempest Williams has written a forward to the book.