Marcia Bonta is a freelance nature writer and the author of, in addition to her Appalachian seasons books, Outbound Journeys in Pennsylvania, More Outbound Journeys in Pennsylvania, Women in the Field, and Escape to the Mountain, and the editor of American Women Afield. She has written more than three hundred magazine articles for publications such as Birder’s World, Bird Watcher’s Digest, Living Bird, and Hawk Mountain News. Her work has appeared in several anthologies, and she is a popular lecturer on nature and nature writing.

Marcia Bonta teaches us what it is to be at home in the world. With unbounded curiosity and deep affection, she enters into the lives of the creatures we share the earth with. Appalachian Summer is full of natural history information, offering explanations for small mysteries of life that may have puzzled us on our own forays into the woods. (Ah katydids stridulating! So that's what I heard on those August nights!) But Appalachian Summer is also full of passion and grace. Bonta shows us how to live a life adapted to natural rhythms, how to pay close attention to life and our place in it, and why we need to care.