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Held: Essays in Belonging
From award-winning author Kathryn Nuernberger, Held is a collection of essays about mutualisms, mutual aid, and ways of being together in a time of climate crisis.
Here is a collection about living in and with the consequences of terrible mistakes—Held contemplates our collective experiences of loss in an age of climate change and mass extinctions, as well as more personal tragedies. Each essay in this book describes a remarkable instance of symbiotic bobtail squid host glow-in-the-dark bacteria behind their eyes so they can camouflage with moonlight on the water; there is a surprisingly erotic encounter between ants and a rove beetle; beavers and willow trees together turn deserts to verdant wetlands; and many more. To read Held is to be reminded of one’s humanity and of our interconnectedness with the world that surrounds us.
Here is a collection about living in and with the consequences of terrible mistakes—Held contemplates our collective experiences of loss in an age of climate change and mass extinctions, as well as more personal tragedies. Each essay in this book describes a remarkable instance of symbiotic bobtail squid host glow-in-the-dark bacteria behind their eyes so they can camouflage with moonlight on the water; there is a surprisingly erotic encounter between ants and a rove beetle; beavers and willow trees together turn deserts to verdant wetlands; and many more. To read Held is to be reminded of one’s humanity and of our interconnectedness with the world that surrounds us.
204 pages, Paperback
Published November 11, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 19, 2026
"I had to saw my scalpel through to the center, where a maggot slept, translucent and curled head to tail. I touched the creature with the tip of my knife to see if it would move and instead it burst a pussy ooze... how I wish I hadn't killed that larva. All he had was being alive and now he is not."
Despite the immense loss and grief and devastation that pulsed throughout the book, I felt weirdly comforted by Kate's essays. I loved so much of this--in this moment here in the Twin Cities where everything I do feels so wrong, reading this book was the only thing that made me feel not-wrong. As a friend of mine said, I literally felt held by these essays.
A book about relationships, symbiotic mutualisms, what it means to be in relation to each other, to be a creature that relies on other creatures, to be a creature that is relied upon....
Despite the immense loss and grief and devastation that pulsed throughout the book, I felt weirdly comforted by Kate's essays. I loved so much of this--in this moment here in the Twin Cities where everything I do feels so wrong, reading this book was the only thing that made me feel not-wrong. As a friend of mine said, I literally felt held by these essays.
A book about relationships, symbiotic mutualisms, what it means to be in relation to each other, to be a creature that relies on other creatures, to be a creature that is relied upon....
February 16, 2026
This book was an impulse purchase - one I'm very glad I made. There's just so much going on in this book. Trust me, you'll just have to read it and see for yourself!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews