OCTOBER SEVENTH IS THE BIRTHDAY of one of my favorite writers, Diane Ackerman, whose observations of nature have delighted millions of readers for many years. A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Orion Book Award, John Burroughs Nature Award, and the Lavan Poetry Prize, as well as being honored as a Literary Lion by the New York Public Library, she even has the rare distinction of having a molecule named after her, called dianeackerone. Ackerman’s essays about nature and human nature have appeared in The New York Times, Smithsonian, Parade, The New Yorker, National Geographic. I love A Natural History of the Senses, although who can resist her An Alchemy of Mind, Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden; The Rarest of the Rare and The Moon by Whale Light? My kind of woman, she once put a bat on top of her head to see if it would really get tangled in her hair. It didn’t. How do I know this? I write and record the daily almanac piece entitled The Naturalist’s Datebook, heard exclusively on Martha Stewart Living Radio, Sirius 112/XM 157. Listen up.
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Is this some kind of sign? Last night when I couldn’t sleep, I got up and read a chapter of Diane Ackerman’s bracing and consistently surprising memoir, A Slender Thread, about her stint as a volunteer in a crisis center. Just what I needed! How lovely to find this birthday tribute here.
Oooooh, Rona. I love that. What a wonderful sign, indeed. And wouldn’t that be the loveliest list of things, a perfect way to characterize a subject, by listing what it is she reads when she cannot sleep. A nice memoir post, thanks for the idea. Yes, let’s all eat a birthday cupcake today for Diane Ackerman, who has provided me with countless hours of wonder and you, I hope the same, as well as a little shut-eye. Thanks for stopping in. We love hearing from you, you literary sister, you. Come back soon.
I, too, love and adore Diane Ackerman….her book, A Natural History of the Senses, guided me through a summer of re-awakening to life after a long saga with cancer. 20 years later, I can report I look forward to her newest releases. Dawn Light is her best work to date.
Hello, Diana. And welcome to TSP, where we do love Diane Ackerman. I am so touched to hear how she helped you through your recovery. How generous of you to offer this story to us. And how encouraging. Thanks for the tip on Dawn Light. I’ll get it today. And please come back for more.
Perhaps of interest (Diane’s new book):
http://maximumfiction.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/this-is-not-a-book-review-diane-ackerman%E2%80%99s-one-hundred-names-for-love/