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AHS LIVE: Bad Naturalist
When Paula Whyman first climbed a peak in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in search of a home in the country, she had no idea how quickly her tidy backyard ecology project would become a massive endeavor. She soon discovered just how much she had to learn about hands-on conservation work. Bad Naturalist is a memoir about Paula Whyman’s attempts to restore native meadows on a 200-acre mountaintop–about the obstacles she encountered, the mistakes she made, the failures and the all-important successes, and the discoveries she made along the way. Douglas Tallamy calls Bad Naturalist “self-deprecating, humorous, and thoroughly engaging.” Washington Gardener calls it “glorious.” Whyman will share the story of her efforts to restore the land.
Bad Naturalist is Paula Whyman’s first book of nonfiction. Her earlier book, You May See a Stranger, is an award-winning linked short story collection. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post and The American Scholar, and in journals including McSweeney’s Quarterly, Virginia Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, and The Hudson Review. She was awarded residencies by MacDowell, Yaddo, VCCA, The Studios of Key West, and Oak Spring Garden Foundation. Her work on this book was supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council. She spends her time on a mountain in Virginia with her husband and a mercurial standard poodle.
