“Writing
is also about a life engaged. And so, for me, community work, working in the
schools or with grassroots conservation organizations is another critical
component of my life as a writer. I cannot separate the writing life from a
spiritual life, from a life as a teacher or activist or my life intertwined
with family and the responsibilities we carry within our own homes. Writing is
daring to feel what nurtures and breaks our hearts. Bearing witness is its own
form of advocacy. It is a dance with pain and beauty. “
– Terry Tempest Williams
Born in California in September
1955, Williams now lives in Utah where she has earned a reputation as both a
leading activist and leading writer on behalf of America’s wilderness and
natural areas. She writes extensively on
issues of ecology, wilderness preservation and man’s relationship to nature.
Among her
best-known books are Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place;
The Open Space of Democracy; and Finding Beauty in a Broken World. 
Featured in Ken Burns’ PBS series The
National Parks: America's Best Idea and in Stephen Ives's PBS documentary
series The West (produced by Burns), she has been widely honored for her
activism and writing, including the prestigious Lannan Literary Fellowship for Creative
Nonfiction and the John Muir Award from the Sierra Club.
Featured in Ken Burns’ PBS series The
National Parks: America's Best Idea and in Stephen Ives's PBS documentary
series The West (produced by Burns), she has been widely honored for her
activism and writing, including the prestigious Lannan Literary Fellowship for Creative
Nonfiction and the John Muir Award from the Sierra Club.
“. . .Wildness,” she said, “reminds us
what it means to be human, what we are connected to rather than what we are
separate from.”
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