About Savanna
I grew up in Virginia, figured out who I wanted to be in Appalachia and the Intermountain West, and moved to California. I write creative nonfiction with a focus on natural history, science, and the environment. My work incorporates extensive research, but it’s not journalistic. While I approach every story with a personal lens, I don’t write memoir. I have a proclivity for the lyrical, but I stick to prose. I’m insatiably curious about the nonhuman world that shapes and shifts and contains the human one. Through my work I hope to suspend, if only for a moment, our human-centered, human-focused view of the world. I believe the best stories aren’t solely about people.
I received my bachelor’s in environmental studies and writing from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, and my MFA from the University of San Francisco. My work has been featured in La.Lit magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, F&B: Voices from the Kitchen, and The Gold Man Review, among others. My piece “On Orogenies” was selected as a Notable Essay in Best American Essays 2020. I live in Berkeley, California, but can often be found leading tours at the San Francisco Botanical Garden. I am currently working on a collection of linked essays.
Like many writers, I have a day job. I work on climate change.
Photo by Kara Brodgesell