Shelter and Storm

Tamara Dean has been camping, fishing, hiking, and gathering wild foods from an early age, led and inspired by her parents. Her essays and stories have been published in The American Scholar, The Georgia Review, the Guardian, One Story, Orion, and The Progressive, and she is author of The Human-Powered Home: Choosing Muscles over Motors. She teaches writing independently and through writing centers across the nation.

"In this remarkable collection of essays, Tamara Dean conveys the depth of our connection to the natural world with careful research and gentle words, bringing the Driftless area of Wisconsin to life. Shelter and Storm is regional literature at its finest. These smoothly flowing essays reveal both the character of the author and the character of the land in equal measure." - Joan Maloof, author of Teaching the Trees: Lessons from the Forest "There is so much to admire in these beautifully written essays, but foremost are Tamara Dean’s sense of awe in the natural world, her citizen science undertakings, and her deep research into both history and biology. Significantly, she is clear-eyed about assaults on the environment, documenting among them fierce storms, flooding, fires, and the spread of Lyme disease as results of climate change. Although Dean’s homeplace is one particular area of Wisconsin, her passions and observations will resonate with readers everywhere." - Nancy Lord, former Alaska State Writer Laureate and author of Early Warming: Crisis and Response in the Climate-Changed North "A deeply personal and insightful narrative of living in harmony with nature amid the environmental crises of the twenty-first century." - Fresh Energy "Chapters add up to a memoir honoring the land and chronicling Dean’s life in relationship to the ecology, history, and people of the Driftless area. Readers of Aldo Leopold’s Sand County Almanac (2013) will enjoy Dean’s writing about this unique land the glaciers forgot." - Booklist "Marked by sharp observations, taut pacing, and mixed subjects, the book interweaves discussions of a rainwater cistern with reflections on water quality issues in Tanzania, Michigan, and the local Kickapoo River. Its descriptions of nature are captivating, as in an account of raccoons swinging like monkeys to feast on acorns in a canopy of oak trees. The lyrical essays in Shelter and Storm are insightful in addressing sustainable living, climate change, and the resilience of rural communities." - Foreword Reviews "[Dean] writes well about neighbors, climate change, local history, endangered species, natural disasters, and what it means to belong to a place." - Cakes, Tea and Dreams "This small book of deep attention is a love letter to the joys and griefs of living on the land."—Star Tribune "Tamara Dean’s essay collection Shelter and Storm aims to spark curiosity." - Isthmus "It may sound familiar, but Shelter and Storm is an engaging read largely because Dean is a very good writer." - Big River Magazine "Tamara Dean's luminous essay collection paints a thoughtful portrait of the Driftless region of Wisconsin and the struggles it faces due to climate change." - Shelf Awareness