David Gessner

For twenty-five years David Gessner has reported from climate hotspots, from the Gulf of Mexico during the BP oil spill to fracking towns and fires in the West to the fragile Outer Banks. He has been recognized for changing the face of nature writing, both in his own work and through the magazine he founded, Ecotone . Gessner is the author of twelve books that blend a love of nature, humor, memoir, and environmentalism, including the New York Times bestseller All the Wild That Remains , Leave...See more

For twenty-five years David Gessner has reported from climate hotspots, from the Gulf of Mexico during the BP oil spill to fracking towns and fires in the West to the fragile Outer Banks. He has been recognized for changing the face of nature writing, both in his own work and through the magazine he founded, Ecotone . Gessner is the author of twelve books that blend a love of nature, humor, memoir, and environmentalism, including the New York Times bestseller All the Wild That Remains , Leave It As It Is: A Journey Through Theodore Roosevelt's American Wilderness, and his latest, Quiet Desperation, Savage Delight: Sheltering with Thoreau in the Age of Crisis . A professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, his magazine publications include pieces in the New York Times Magazine , Sierra , Audubon , Orion , and many other magazines, and his prizes include a Pushcart Prize and the John Burroughs Award for Best Nature Essay for his essay "Learning to Surf." He has received the Association for Study of Literature and the Environment's award for best book of creative writing, and the Reed Award for Best Book on the Southern Environment. In 2017 he hosted the National Geographic Explorer show, "The Call of the Wild." He is married to the novelist Nina de Gramont. See less