Carl Safina has won a MacArthur “genius” prize and Pew, Guggenheim, and National Science Foundation fellowships. His bestselling lyrical non-fiction writing about the living world has earned book awards from the National Academies, the Lannan Foundation, and Orion Magazine; and the John Burroughs, James Beard, and George Rabb medals. Two of his books have been New York Times Notable Books of the Year, including his 2020 book Becoming Wild; How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace. Safina grew up raising pigeons, training hawks and owls, and spending as many days and nights in the woods and on the water as he could. His studies of seabirds earned him a PhD in ecology from Rutgers University. He is the first Endowed Professor for Nature and Humanity at Stony Brook University, and founder of the not-for-profit Safina Center. His writing appears in the New York Times, Time, Audubon, National Geographic, on the Web at CNN.com, Yale e360, and elsewhere, and his PBS series Saving the Ocean can be viewed online. Carl serves on the national board of the American Bird Conservancy. He lives on Long Island, New York, with his wife, Patricia, and their dogs and feathered friends. Alfie and Me: What Owls Know and What Humans Believe, is his most recent book. More at CarlSafina.org and SafinaCenter.org.

Photo by Patricia Paladines