David George Haskell is a British and American biologist, writer, and William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies at Sewanee: The University of the South, in

Sewanee, Tennessee Sewanee () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Franklin County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,535 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Winchester, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area. Sewanee is best known as the home ...

. He is a two-time

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

finalist in General Nonfiction. In addition to scientific papers, he has written essays, poems, op-eds, and the books '' The Forest Unseen'' (

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheimer and then acqu ...

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...

2012), ''The Songs of Trees'' (

2017), ''Thirteen Ways to Smell a Tree'' (

Hachette Hachette may refer to: * Hachette (surname) * Hachette Livre, a French publisher, the imprint of Lagardère Publishing ** Hachette Book Group, the American subsidiary ** Hachette Distribution Services, the distribution arm See also * Hachette Fil ...

2021), and ''Sounds Wild and Broken'' (

2022).

Education

Haskell received his B.A. in zoology from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and his Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

Work

'' The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature'' was winner of the 2013

National Academies Communication Award The National Academies Communication Award was an annual prize bestowed in recognition of creative works that help the public understand topics in science, engineering or medicine. The awards were established in 2003 and administered by the Keck Fut ...

for Best Book, finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction, runner-up for the 2013 PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, winner of the 2012

National Outdoor Book Award The National Outdoor Book Award (NOBA) was formed in 1997 as an American-based non-profit program which each year presents awards honoring the best in outdoor writing and publishing. It is housed at Idaho State University and chaired by Ron Watte ...

for Natural History Literature, and the 2013 Reed Environmental Writing Award. Biologist

E. O. Wilson Edward Osborne Wilson (June 10, 1929 – December 26, 2021) was an American biologist, naturalist, ecologist, and entomologist known for developing the field of sociobiology. Born in Alabama, Wilson found an early interest in nature and frequ ...

wrote that the book was "…a new genre of nature writing, located between science and poetry".

Outside Magazine ''Outside'' is a magazine focused on the outdoors. The first issue of the ''Outside'' magazine was published in September 1977. It is published by Outside Inc., a company that also owns various other ventures. History ''Outside'' founders were J ...

listed the book among those that "shaped the decade", stating that it "injects much-needed vibrancy into the stuffy world of nature writing". ''The Forest Unseen'' has been translated into twelve languages and was winner, in translation, of the 2016 Dapeng Nature Book Award in China. ''The Songs of Trees: Stories from Nature's Great Connectors'', was published in April 2017 by Viking. It won the 2018

John Burroughs Medal The John Burroughs Medal, named for nature writer John Burroughs (1837–1921), is awarded each year in April by the John Burroughs Association to the author of a book that the association has judged to be distinguished in the field of natural hist ...

for Distinguished Natural History Writing and the Iris Books Award. Jurors for the Iris Award called ''The Songs of Trees'' "a compelling example of poetic science" that "beautifully illustrates the interconnections … of particular trees around the world, weaving together scientific knowledge about them and their relationships to the rest of the natural world including humans."

Public Radio International Public Radio International (PRI) was an American public radio organization. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PRI provided programming to over 850 public radio stations in the United States. PRI was one of the main providers of programmi ...

Science Friday ''Science Friday'' (known as ''SciFri'' for short) is a weekly call-in talk show that broadcasts each Friday on public radio stations, distributed by WNYC Studios, and carried on over 500 public radio stations. ''SciFri'' is hosted by science ...

named ''The Songs of Trees'' of the Best Science Books of 2017,

Maria Popova Maria Popova (; born 28 July 1984) is a Bulgarian-born, American-based essayist, book author, poet, and writer of literary and arts commentary and cultural criticism that has found wide appeal both for her writing and for the visual stylistics th ...

included the book in Brain Pickings Favorite Science Books of 2017, writing that Haskell is "the rare kind of scientist Rachel Carson was when long ago she pioneered a new cultural aesthetic of poetic prose about science", and

Forbes.com ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The c ...

named the book one of 10 Best Environment, Climate Science and Conservation Books of 2017. ''The Songs of Trees'' has been translated into fourteen languages. ''Sounds Wild and Broken'' (Viking, 2022) was a finalist for the

in General Nonfiction. It was also a Finalist for the 2023

PEN PEN may refer to: * (National Ecological Party), former name of the Brazilian political party Patriota (PATRI) * PEN International, a worldwide association of writers ** English PEN, the founding centre of PEN International ** PEN America, located ...

/ E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award and an Editor's Choice and a Recommended Paperback in the ''New York Times'' book review. Cynthia Barnett reviewing in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', wrote of the book that it "affirms Haskell as a laureate for the earth". The

Acoustical Society of America The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is an international scientific society founded in 1929 dedicated to generating, disseminating and promoting the knowledge of acoustics and its practical applications. The Society is primarily a voluntary org ...

awarded the book its 2021-2 Science Communication Award, Long Form Print. ''Thirteen Ways to Smell a Tree'' was described by Sir

Peter Crane Sir Peter Crane (born 18 July 1954) is the current president of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation and senior research scientist in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University. In addition to his work in leading and deve ...

, FRS, as "'eclectic, brilliant and beautifully written" and by

Kate Humble Katherine Mary Humble (born 12 December 1968) is an English television presenter and narrator, mainly working for the BBC, specialising in wildlife and science programmes. Humble served as president of the Royal Society for the Protection of Bir ...

The Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

Best Books of 2021 as "My favourite book of the year". Journalist Paul Kvinta's profile of Haskell in

was included in the 2018 anthology Best American Science and Nature Writing, edited by

Sam Kean Sam Kean is an American writer. He has written for ''The New York Times Magazine'', ''Mental Floss'', ''Slate'', ''Psychology Today'', and ''The New Scientist''. He has also published six books which discuss scientific discoveries in a narrative s ...

Awards and honors

In 2009 he was named the Carnegie-

CASE Case or CASE may refer to: Instances * Instantiation (disambiguation), a realization of a concept, theme, or design * Special case, an instance that differs in a certain way from others of the type Containers * Case (goods), a package of relate ...

Professor of the Year in Tennessee. He was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

by the

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is a private foundation formed in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Gr ...

in 2014. In 2022, Haskell was elected a fellow of the

Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript a ...

. He is also a fellow of the

American Council of Learned Societies The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is a private, nonprofit federation of 75 scholarly organizations in the humanities and related social sciences founded in 1919. It is best known for its fellowship competitions which provide a ra ...

and elected member of the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its ...

. Awards for Writing: * Award in Literature.

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, Music of the United States, music, and Visual art of the United States, art. Its fixed number ...

. 2024. * Finalist,

Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction The Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are awarded annually for the "Letters, Drama, and Music" category. The award is given to a nonfiction book written by an American author and published du ...

. 2023. * Finalist,

PEN America PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922, and headquartered in New York City, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose goal is to raise awareness for the protection of free expression in the United States and worldwide th ...

/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. 2023. * Open Book Award, "Best Book in Translation", Taiwan. 2023. *

's 2023 Science Communication Award, Long-Form Print category. * Patricia Winn Award for Southern Literature. 2023. * Winner (Gold and Listener’s Choice), Signal Awards for three categories: “Most Innovative Audio Experience,” “Best Editing,” and “Best Sound Design” (for “When the Earth Started to Sing” published with collaborators in Emergence Magazine). January 2023. * Iris Book Award for outstanding writing in science, religion, and nature. 2020. * Ping Shan Natural History Book Award, China. 2020. * Social Impact Media Awards: Best VR Experience and Jury Prizes for Immersive Impact and Journalistic Achievement. For The Atomic Tree, directed by E. Vaughan-Lee and A. Loften, script D. Haskell, E. Vaughn-Lee, and A Loften. 2020. *

for distinguished natural history writing. 2018. * China Times Open Book Awards: The Best Book for Life. Taiwan. 2017. * Dapeng Nature Writing Award. Shenzhen, China. 2016. *

John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated dis ...

. 2014-2015. *

National Academies A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, and serves as a public policy advisors, research ins ...

’ 2013 Communication Award for Best Book. (Given by the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine, with support from the Keck Foundation.) * Finalist for 2013

. * Winner of the 2013 Reed Environmental Writing Award. * Winner of the 2012

for Natural History Literature. * Runner-up for 2013

/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award.

Support of conservation and environmental justice organizations

In the Acknowledgments section of ''The Forest Unseen'', Haskell writes that "I will donate at least half my author's proceeds to projects that benefit forest conservation". In the same section of ''Sounds Wild and Broken'', he states "In these pages, I make the case that the acoustic crisis has four main pressing and intersecting dimensions...loss of ecological habitat and attacks on human rights..the nightmare of industrial sound in the oceans...the inequities of noise pollution in cities...failures to listen to and celebrate the storied sensory richness of our world. I will donate at lest half of my net proceeds from this book to organizations that work to heal and reverse these aggressions, fragmentations, and loses." He donated to education and conservation groups all of his proceeds from the sale of the best-selling ''Eastern Forest Playing Cards'' with the Art of Play. Haskell served on advisory boards for the

Open Space Institute The Open Space Institute (OSI) is a conservation organization that protects land for clean drinking water, public recreation, healthy communities, wildlife habitat, and climate protection. Established in 1974, OSI achieves its goals through land acq ...

and as board member and leader of the Shakerag Hollow Conservation Initiative for the South Cumberland Regional Land Trust. He serves on the advisory board of Advisory Board, MAX (Media Art Exploration).

Bibliography

Books *'' The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature'', (Viking Books hardcover edition 2012, Penguin paperback edition 2013) * ''The Songs of Trees: Stories from Nature's Great Connectors'', (Viking Books hardcover edition 2017, Penguin paperback edition 2018) *''Thirteen Ways to Smell a Tree'', published in UK only, (Hachette 2021) *''Sounds Wild and Broken'', (Viking Books hardcover edition 2022, Penguin paperback edition 2023) Essays and Op-eds * "The Birds Are Singing, but Not for Me", ''The New York Times'' * "The sonic wonders of our world are under threat. We need to listen", ''New Scientist'' * "Wild Sounds: The Loss of Sonic Diversity and Why It Matters", ''Yale Environment 360'', 2022 * "Music, Forest, Body", ''Orion'' ''Magazine'', 2022 * "Humans Evolved to Play Music", ''Wired'', 2022 * "The scent of trees: how to understand their language", ''The Financial Times'', 2021 * "Eleven Ways of Smelling a Tree", ''Emergence Magazine'', 2020 * "The Voices of Birds and the Language of Belonging", ''Emergence Magazine'', 2019 * "Love Letter to a Forest" ''BBC Radio 4'', 2019 * "The Most Wonderful Smelling Time of the Year", ''The New York Times'', 2018 * "Central Park, Now More Delicious", ''The New York Times'', 2018 * "The Seasons Aren't What They Used to Be", ''The New York Times'', 2017 * "Listening to the Thoughts of the Forest", ''Undark Magazine'' * "Nature's Case for Same-Sex Marriage", ''The New York Times'', 2013 Multimedia * "When the Earth started to sing", ''Emergence Magazine'', 2022, Written and narrated by David George Haskell, Sound design and mixing by Matt Mikkelsen, Produced by

Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee (born 1979 in London, England) is an Emmy and Peabody award nominated filmmaker, a composer, and a Naqshbandi Sufi teacher. Emmanuel is the authorized successor of his father Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, a Sufi mystic and lineage ...

* "The Voices of Birds and the Language of Belonging", ''Emergence Magazine'', 2019 * "The Atomic Tree", VR experience, 2019, Written by David G. Haskell, Adam Loften, and

, Directed and Produced by Adam Loften and

Field recording albums * Tress I. White Oak, American Beech. 2024 * Concurrent Dyscurrent. Where people and water meet. 2019 Translations of books ''Sounds Wild and Broken''. * Chinese translation (simplified characters): The Commercial Press, Hong Kong. Translator, Chen Jinhui. * Korean translation: Eidos, Seoul, Korea. * Italian translation. ''Suoni fragili e selvaggi: Meraviglie acustiche, evoluzione creativa e crisi sensoriale''. Translator: Antonio Casto. Einaudi, Torino, Italy. * French translation. Flammarion, Paris. * Japanese translation. Tsukiji Shokan, Tokyo. ''Thirteen Ways to Smell a Tree''. * Chinese translation (traditional characters), Business Weekly Publications, Cite Publishing, Taiwan. * Chinese translation (simplified characters), People’s Literature Publishing House Co., Beijing, China. * French translation. Flammarion, Paris. * Korean translation: Eidos, Seoul, Korea. ''The Songs of Trees: Stories from Nature’s Great Connectors''. * German translation. ''Der Gesang der Bäume''. Translator: Christine Ammann. Kunstmann, München, Germany. 2017. * French translation: ''Écoute l'arbre et la feuille''. Translator: Thierry Piélat. Flammarion, Paris. 2017. * Spanish translation: ''Las canciones de los árboles''. Translator: Guillem Usandizaga. Turner, Madrid, Spain. * Portuguese translation, ''As Canções das Árvores''. Translator, Ana Sampaio. Preface, António Bagão Felix. Gradiva Publicacoes. Lisbon, Portugal. * Japanese translation, Tsukiji Shokan, Tokyo, Japan * Korean translation, Eidos, Seoul, Korea. * Chinese translation (simplified characters), The Commercial Press, Hong Kong. * Chinese translation (traditional characters), Business Weekly Publications, Cite Publishing, Taiwan. * Turkish translation, Artı Dağıtım, Istanbul. * Dutch translation, Meulenhoff, Amsterdam. * Italian translation. ''Il canto degli alberi.'' Einaudi. * Russian translation, AST Publishers, Moscow. * Vietnamese translation, Phoung Nam Books, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam. ''The Forest Unseen: A Year’s Watch in Nature''. * Japanese translation: ミクロの森: 1m2の原生林が語る生命・進化・地球 Translator, Miki Naoko. Tsukiji Shokan, Tokyo. 2013. * Italian translation: ''La foresta nascosta''. Translator: Daria Cavallini. Giulio Einaudi, Torino. 2014. * Spanish translation: ''En un metro de bosque''. Translator: Guillem Usandizaga. Turner, Madrid. 2014. * French translation: ''Un an dans la vie d’une forêt''. Translator: Thierry Piélat. Flammarion, Paris. 2014. * Korean translation: 숲에서 우주를 보다. Translator: Seungyoung Noh. Eidos Publishing, Seoul. 2014. * Chinese translation (simplified characters): 看不见的森林. Translator: Xiong Jiao. The Commercial Press, Hong Kong. 2014. Renewed by The Commercial Press, Beijing. * Chinese translation (traditional characters): 森林祕境.Translator: Baosen Xiao. Business Weekly Publications, Cite Publishing, Taiwan. 2014. * German translation. ''Das Verborgene leben des waldes''. Translator: Christine Ammann. Verlag Antje Kunstmann, München, Germany. 2015. * Polish translation: ''Ukryte życie leśne''. Translator: Katarzyny Sosnowskiej. Wydawnictwo JK Publishing. 2017. * Lativian translation. Jumava, 2022. * German translation, DIE ZEIT special boxed set. 2018. * Czech translation, Euromedia. 2018. * Turkish translation: ''Saklı Orman - Bir Biyoloğun Doğa Güncesi''. Translator: İlknur Urkun Kelso. Ekofil. 2020.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haskell, David George Living people American science writers Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Cornell University alumni British expatriate academics in the United States Sewanee: The University of the South faculty 21st-century American biologists American nature writers American male non-fiction writers Year of birth missing (living people)