Join Robin Lee Carlson as she discusses her book, The Cold Canyon Fire Journals. This discussion will focus on how Robin’s work started as a field sketching project and turned into a book. Robin will describe the journey from an almost entirely visual project to one that also has a significant literary component, and how she integrated visual and narrative storytelling. She will also discuss the ecoreportage aspect of the project, especially what it has meant to continue the project for over six years. She will talk about what she has learned, what she is planning to explore next, and details about her materials and methods. 

The Cold Canyon Fire Journals: Green Shoots and Silver Linings in the Ashes is the culmination of six years exploring the legacy of the wildfires that have twice burned a beloved nature reserve in California’s Coast Ranges. Drawing on natural science, years of patient observation, and richly realized field sketches, Robin Lee Carlson’s study of the canyon reveals how wildlife survives and thrives in the crucible of wildfire and offers a new understanding of how we must live in relationship to the land. This is a story of fire as a source of transformation and renewal, rewriting wildfire as an elemental power that does not destroy the diverse habitats of California but nourishes and sustains them.