Photo by Colette Cosner
Who?
Hi!
I'm a contributing writer to the The New York Times Magazine. I've also written for The New Yorker, Wired, The California Sunday Magazine, Harper's, and others, and toured with Pop-Up Magazine.
I live in Seattle, but I grew up in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee. Most of the time I focus on reported narratives about complicated issues, but I'm generally fascinated by the unexpected workings of our strange world.
My work has won the Livingston Award in National Reporting; the Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communication from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; the Reporting Award from NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute; and been a finalist for the PEN USA Literary Award in Journalism and the Livingston Award in International Reporting. It has also been honored by the International Labour Organization, the American Association for Cancer Research, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Society of Environmental Journalists, and the City and Regional Magazine Association. I’m grateful for support from the Whiting Foundation, the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, the UC Berkeley - 11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellowship, the Alicia Patterson Foundation, and the Middlebury Fellowship in Environmental Journalism.
Stories have been anthologized in The Best American Science and Nature Writing (2021, 2019, and 2015); The Best American Travel Writing (2019); Love and Ruin: Tales of Obsession, Danger and Heartbreak from The Atavist Magazine (2016); New Stories We Tell: True Tales By America’s Next Generation of Great Women Journalists (2019); and 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology (2022). I’ve also taught feature writing at NYU’s American Journalism Online Master’s Program and mentored young science journalists through The Open Notebook and the Northwest Science Writers Association.