Robin Wall Kimmerer

Robin Wall Kimmerer is an American botanist, professor, and author whose book Braiding Sweetgrass has become one of the most beloved and influential works of nature writing of the twenty-first century. Her work weaves together Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and personal reflection to offer a radically different way of understanding our relationship with the natural world. Kimmerer is a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is a Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental and Forest Biology at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses (2003), her first book, won the John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Natural History Writing. It combined her scientific expertise in bryology — the study of mosses — with Indigenous perspectives on the natural world. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants (2013) was her masterwork. The book braids together three strands — her identity as a Potawatomi woman, her training as a botanist, and her experience as a mother and teacher — to explore what plants can teach us about reciprocity, gratitude, and living in relationship with the earth. The book was a slow-burning phenomenon, growing through word of mouth to sell millions of copies and spend years on the New York Times bestseller list. Kimmerer writes with the precision of a scientist and the lyrical power of a poet, and her central argument — that we must move from a relationship of extraction to one of gratitude and reciprocity with the natural world — has resonated deeply with readers across the globe. The audiobook edition of Braiding Sweetgrass, read by Kimmerer herself, is a profound listening experience — her voice carries the warmth and authority of someone who has spent a lifetime listening to plants and people. Her books and audiobooks are essential for anyone who cares about the natural world.