This episode is both about birdwatching and illustrating birds. In 2016, acclaimed and bestselling author Amy Tan began taking nature journaling classes with John Muir Laws. During the pandemic shutdown, she spent long hours observing the behavior of wild birds in her backyard. Her editor, Dan Halpern, suggested she turn those pencil sketches, colored portraits and journal notes into an illustrated book, The Backyard Bird Chronicles, published in April 2024 by Knopf, which became an instant #1 bestseller and remained on the list for 70 weeks. Her drawings were on special exhibition at the Roger Torey Peterson Institute and at the Bancroft Library at the University of California at Berkeley. Amy serves on the board of American Bird Conservancy, the National Poetry Series, and The Community of Writers. She lives with her husband and their dog in California and New York. In this episode she talks to us about the pleasures of watching and illustrating birds.
