About this Event
We are so excited to host author Mary Taylor Young for a book launch celebrating her newest work, Bluebird Seasons: Witnessing Climate Change in My Piece of the World, on May 7th!
About the Book: Climate change wasn’t yet on the public radar when Young and her husband bought their piece of the wild in 1995. They built a cabin and set up a trail of bluebird nest boxes, and Mary began a nature journal of her observations, delighting in the ceaseless dramas, joys, and tragedies that are the fabric of life in the wild.
But changes greater than the seasonal cycles of nature became evident over time: increasing drought, trees killed by plagues of beetles, wildfires, catastrophic weather, bears entering hibernation later and thinner, the decline of some familiar birds, and the appearance of new species.
Their journal of sightings over twenty-five bluebird seasons, she realized, was a record of climate change happening, not in an Indonesian rainforest or on an Antarctic ice sheet but in their own natural neighborhood. Using the journal as a chronicle of change, Young tells a story echoed in everyone’s lives and backyards. But it’s not time to despair, she writes. It’s time to act.
About the Author: A prolific, career nature writer, Mary's 21 books range from creative nonfiction, to natural history, to heritage history, kids books and humor.
She's written the official centennial history of Rocky Mountain National Park; numerous field guides on birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians; the first book about Colorado wildlife for kids to read and enjoy themselves (NOT written for boring old adults); an award-winning nature memoir; even text for 2 adult coloring books on national parks! (who knew?)
Mary’s writing combines the insight of a scientist with a sense of wonder at the natural world, often in an entertaining humorous style. In addition to her many books, she's familiar to Colorado readers for her hundreds of articles in magazines--particularly Colorado Outdoors--newspapers and on the Web; Colorado's Wildlife Company, published for 15 years by Colorado Parks & Wildlife; trail signs and visitor center exhibits throughout the state; and her Words On Birds column, which ran in the Rocky Mountain News for 16 years.
A graduate of Colorado State University with a degree in zoology, Mary was the 2016 CSU College of Natural Sciences commencement speaker. She is a past board member of the Colorado Authors' League, Colorado Book Festival, Audubon Society of Greater Denver and Douglas Land Conservancy.
Mary has worked with thousands of school kids throughout Colorado as a teaching artist-in-residence, combining nature study with creative writing. She is honored to have been an Artist In Residence at Rocky Mountain National Park in 2012.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Bookies Bookstore, 4315 East Mississippi Avenue, Denver, United States
USD 0.00