Selected by independent booksellers nationwide as an IndieNext Top Pick for Great Reads

Read Brenda's January 5, 2010 Letter to the Editor in The New York Times.

Read Brenda's article in Orion Magazine
Saving Seals: Our duties in this world, and beyond

Brenda Peterson is a nature writer and novelist, author of 15 books, including a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year,” Duck and Cover. Her memoir, Build Me an Ark: A Life with Animals, was chosen as a “Best Spiritual Book of 2001,” a One Spirit and Quality Paperback Club book, and is just out in a Chinese edition. Her ten non-fiction books, including Living by Water and the National Geographic book, Sightings: The Gray Whale’s Mysterious Journey established her as a prominent creative non-fiction writer, extensively profiled in America’s Nature Writers. Peterson’s most recent novel was Animal Heart (Sierra Club books).

Peterson’s non-fiction has appeared in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Reader’s Digest, Christian Science Monitor, and Utne Reader. Her work is
featured in national magazines, including Sierra, Oprah magazine, and Orion: People and Nature. She is a frequent columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle Times and since 1993 she has contributed environmental commentary for both Seattle National Public Radio stations. Since 1980, Peterson has taught writing in universities and privately.

For the past two decades, Peterson has studied and written about animals, especially marine mammals and wolves. She is the founder of the grassroots conservation group Seal Sitters, based in Seattle, Washington.

With Toni Frohoff, she co-edited the Sierra Club anthology Between Species: Celebrating the Dolphin-Human Bond. Her bestselling anthology Intimate Nature: The Bond Between Women and Animals is often taught in university courses. Her new book, I Want to Be Left Behind: Rapture Here on Earth is a spiritual memoir due out in Feb. 2010. The first chapter, internationally reprinted, was published by Orion magazine.