Elena Passarello (left), Helen Macdonald (right)
Bill Johnston Jr.
On this episode of “Literary Arts: The Archive Project,” we feature Helen Macdonald from an online Portland Arts & Lectures event in October 2020. Helen Macdonald is a multitalented naturalist, illustrator, writer, and historian of science at the University of Cambridge. She has worked as a professional falconer and has assisted with raptor research and conservation projects across Eurasia. Her 2016 book, “H Is for Hawk,” much like Macdonald herself, defies any single label. At once memoir, natural history, literary biography, it explores grief and loss, the relationships between humans and animals, obsession, memory, myth, and history.
Macdonald joined us to talk about her most recent book, the essay collection “Vesper Flights.” In the collection and in this episode, Macdonald moves back and forth through topics ranging from scientists to swans, and into childhood memories and then forward into an ominous future. Macdonald skillfully links her own experiences not only with the natural, wild world but with a very human world. There is grief, but also abundant wonder. Helen Macdonald will change the way you see the world, and all of its creatures—yourself included.
Macdonald is also joined by the Oregon writer Elena Passarello for a conversation and a few audience questions.
Bio:
Helen Macdonald is a writer, poet, illustrator and naturalist, and an affiliated research scholar at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. She is the author of the bestselling, “H Is for Hawk,” as well as a cultural history of falcons, titled Falcon, and three collections of poetry, including “Shaler’s Fish.” Macdonald was a Research Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge, has worked as a professional falconer, and has assisted with the management of raptor research and conservation projects across Eurasia. She now writes for the New York Times Magazine.
Elena Passarello is an actor, essayist, and recipient of a 2015 Whiting Award. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Paris Review, and The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2018, and has been translated into German, Italian, French, and Mandarin. She is the author of the essay collections, “Let Me Clear My Throat” and “Animals Strike Curious Poses,” the latter of which won the 2018 Oregon Book Award in Creative Nonfiction and made the Best Books of 2017 lists in the New York Times, Guardian, and Publisher’s Weekly. Passarello teaches creative writing at Oregon State University and appears weekly on the nationally-syndicated radio show, “LiveWire!,” heard Saturdays at 3:00pm on OPB.