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Adrienne Ross Scanlan

Goodreads Author

Website

https://adrienne-ross-scanlan.com/

Genre

Nature & Environmental Writing, Memoir, Science

Member Since

November 2014

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/arscanlan

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Adrienne Ross Scanlan is the author of Turning Homeward – Restoring Hope and Nature in the Urban Wild (Washington State Book Award Finalist 2017, Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award 2016 Notable Book, and Nautilus Book Award 2016 Silver Medal in the Heroic Journey category).

Scanlan’s nature writing, personal essays, memoirs, and other creative nonfiction explore the repair, restoration, and resilience of nature, spirit, family, and community. She writes from her experience as a naturalist and restoration volunteer, a mother, and a lover of the written word. Among her (too many) other hats, she is a reviewer for the New York Journal of Books, with a particular interest in books about nature and the environment. From 2012 to 2017, she was the n Adrienne Ross Scanlan is the author of Turning Homeward – Restoring Hope and Nature in the Urban Wild (Washington State Book Award Finalist 2017, Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award 2016 Notable Book, and Nautilus Book Award 2016 Silver Medal in the Heroic Journey category).

Scanlan’s nature writing, personal essays, memoirs, and other creative nonfiction explore the repair, restoration, and resilience of nature, spirit, family, and community. She writes from her experience as a naturalist and restoration volunteer, a mother, and a lover of the written word. Among her (too many) other hats, she is a reviewer for the New York Journal of Books, with a particular interest in books about nature and the environment. From 2012 to 2017, she was the nonfiction editor of the Blue Lyra Review: A Literary Magazine of Diverse Voices, which celebrated four “notable essay” mentions in Best American Essays. (Back issues are online, thanks to the Wayback Machine.) She’s currently a freelance developmental editor and book coach working primarily with creative nonfiction writers.

Scanlan is available for keynotes and speaking engagements on the themes and issues address in her writing, as well as book readings, classes, and other in-person or virtual events. You can find an updated list of her classes, webinars, and other events on her website at https://www.adrienne-ross-scanlan.com....

Praise for Turning Homeward:

“In this beautiful book, Adrienne Ross Scanlan seamlessly interweaves themes of life, place, science, and spirit. Feeling uprooted after moving to the west, she discovers the surest path to home: participation in the natural world. Bees, wrens, herons, turtles, and salmon become her guides. The stories she shares will inspire all readers to look more deeply at the wild in our midst, and in so doing, feel more connected to the places we live. But Scanlan doesn't simply rest in the peace of nature. This book gently invites us all to delight in the natural world, yes, but also to participate fully in its repair and its wholeness.”
—Lyanda Lynn Haupt, author of Crow Planet and The Urban Beastiary

“In her delightful and thought-provoking narrative, Adrienne Ross Scanlan takes readers into small nooks of the natural world where she explores the big and often-neglected questions of what it means to call a place home. Turning Homeward will inspire newcomers and long-time residents anywhere to follow Scanlan s example as she surveys, rescues, tosses, uproots, worries, digs, and restores her way into her community.”
— Maria Mudd Ruth, author of Rare Bird

“Even in its most basic form, life wants to see and to be seen. Scanlan is the very best kind of witness.”
—Paul Constant, The Seattle Review of Books

“Scanlan is guided by her study and practice of tikkun olam—Hebrew, “repair of the world” for social justice—and her grounding in the Jewish calendar year of celebration and remembrance. This work of repair is more than a commandment; it is a way of life that informs her actions and perspective. She offers this teaching as one way, a kind of signpost, but encourages us to find our own traditions, our own texts and stories, new or ancient, that might serve as a foundation for our life choices. Just so long as we do something to love our world, to turn our sense of belonging into the energy and wisdom needed to care for it and help it survive. As we do the work of repair, the world opens us to its wonders and truths.”
—Anne Kilgannon, Black Hills Audubon Society’s Echo Newsletter

“Turning Homeward is one of the greatest books of place I’ve ever read, and they easily account for 50 linear feet of books of library shelving. With uncommon spiritual depth and elegant prose, Adrienne teaches us how to see a place on its own terms. My home place is more a home, a richer home, a dearer home thanks to this tireless, gifted writer.”
—Karla Linn Merrifield, author of Athabaskan Fractal: Poems o ...more

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Adrienne Ross Scanlan’s books

Average rating: 4.26 · 77 ratings · 30 reviews · 1 distinct work • Similar authors

Turning Homeward: Restoring Hope and Nature in the Urban Wild

4.26 avg rating — 77 ratings — 3 editions

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Adrienne Scanlan rated a book it was amazing A Complete Fiction by R.L. Maizes (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I started reading A Complete Fiction during a Labor Day Weekend family retreat, and the only thing that could make me put it down was dinner and lights out in the cabin. A Complete Fiction takes a contemporary issue – a literary cancellation driven b ...more
Nov 16, 2025 07:22PM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of A Complete Fiction by R.L. Maizes. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — A Complete Fiction by R.L. Maizes <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Adrienne Scanlan rated a book really liked it Sorry, Wrong Afterlife by Susan Kemp	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Life, Death, the God of Ruffles, and a Dog Named Chaos. Who knew death could be so much fun? Or so adventurous? (As in, the Afterlife of Slime-Emitting Creatures? Or dragonflies that would so much, much rather flame crème brulee?) But don’t let the s ...more
May 29, 2025 04:21PM · like · see review
Adrienne Scanlan rated a book did not like it Jewfish by Andrew Furman	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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