Diane Ackerman
Author of The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story
About the Author
Diane Ackerman was born on October 7, 1948 in Waukegan, Illinois. She received a B.A. in English from Pennsylvania State University and her M.A., M.F.A., and Ph.D. in English from Cornell University. Poet, author, educator, adventurer, and naturalist, she tries to bridge science and art in her show more writing, exploring questions of who we are, where we come from, and how we fit into the fabric of the world. She has written many books of poetry including The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoral; Wife of Light; Jaguar of Sweet Laughter: New and Selected Poems; Origami Bridges: Poems of Psychoanalysis and Fire; and I Praise My Destroyer. Her nonfiction works include A Natural History of the Senses; A Natural History of Love; The Moon by Whale Light: And Other Adventures Among Bats, Crocodilians, Penguins, and Whales; An Alchemy of Mind; and On Extended Wings. She also writes nature books for children including Animal Sense; Monk Seal Hideaway; and Bats: Shadows in the Night. She is coeditor of a Norton anthology, The Book of Love. Her essays about nature and human nature have appeared in Parade, National Geographic, The New York Times, and The New Yorker magazines. She hosted a five-hour PBS television series inspired by A Natural History of the Senses. She received the Orion Book Award for The Zookeepers Wife. Her other awards include the Abbie Copps Poetry Prize, Black Warrior Poetry Prize, Pushcart Prize, Peter I. B. Lavan award, and the Wordsmith award. She has taught at a variety of universities, including Columbia and Cornell. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Diane Ackerman At New York State Writers Institute On 2017/03/07
Works by Diane Ackerman
The Moon by Whale Light and Other Adventures Among Bats, Penguins, Crocodilians, and Whales (1991) — Author — 492 copies, 15 reviews
One Hundred Names for Love: A Stroke, a Marriage, and the Language of Healing (2011) 330 copies, 11 reviews
Ackerman, Diane Archive 1 copy
In Praise of Squirrels 1 copy
Associated Works
For the Love of Books: 115 Celebrated Writers on the Books They Love Most (1999) — Contributor — 479 copies, 4 reviews
Sisters of the Earth: Women's Prose and Poetry About Nature (1991) — Contributor — 441 copies, 6 reviews
A Convergence of Birds: Original Fiction and Poetry Inspired by Joseph Cornell (2001) — Contributor — 208 copies, 2 reviews
Writers on Writing, 2: More Collected Essays from the New York Times (2003) — Contributor — 200 copies, 3 reviews
The Universe in Verse: 15 Portals to Wonder through Science and Poetry (2024) — Contributor — 162 copies, 8 reviews
The Ends of the Earth: An Anthology of the Finest Writing on the Arctic and the Antarctic (2007) — Contributor — 136 copies, 8 reviews
The Sweet Breathing of Plants: Women Writing on the Green World (2001) — Contributor — 100 copies, 1 review
Who's Writing This? Notations on the Authorial I, with Self-Portraits {not Antæus} (1995) — Contributor — 76 copies
Blue Planet Run: The Race to Provide Safe Drinking Water to the World (2007) — some editions — 60 copies
Face to Face: Women Writers on Faith, Mysticism, and Awakening (2004) — Contributor — 39 copies, 1 review
Conjunctions: 46, Selected Subversions: Essays on the World at Large (2006) — Contributor — 10 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Ackerman, Diane
- Other names
- Ackermann, Diane
- Birthdate
- 1948-10-07
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Pennsylvania State University (BA | 1970 - English)
Cornell University (MFA | 1973 | MA | 1976 | PhD | 1978 - English) - Occupations
- professor of English
naturalist
author
poet - Organizations
- Authors Guild
Columbia University
Cornell University
The New Yorker
University of Pittsburgh - Awards and honors
- Guggenheim Fellowship
John Burroughs Nature Award
Lavan Poetry Prize
New York Public Library Literary Lion
Peter I. B. Lavan Younger Poets Award (1985)
Fellow, New York Institute for the Humanities (show all 7)
American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2016) - Agent
- Suzanne Gluck (William Morris Agency)
Alison Granucci (Blue Flower Arts) - Relationships
- West, Paul (husband) (1)
Sagan, Carl (doctoral advisor) - Short biography
- Diane Ackerman is the author of two dozen highly-acclaimed works of poetry and nonfiction, including the bestsellers "The Zookeeper's Wife" and "A Natural History of the Senses," and the Pulitzer Prize Finalist, "One Hundred Names for Love."
In her most recent book, "The Human Age: the World Shaped by Us," she confronts the unprecedented fact that the human race is now the single dominant force of change on the whole planet. Humans have "subdued 75 percent of the land surface, concocted a wizardry of industrial and medical marvels, strung lights all across the darkness." Ackerman takes us on an exciting journey to understand this bewildering new reality, introducing us to many of the inspiring people and ideas now creating, and perhaps saving, our future
A note from the author: "I find that writing each book becomes a mystery trip, one filled with mental (and sometimes physical) adventures. The world revealing itself, human nature revealing itself, is seductive and startling, and that's always been fascinating enough to send words down my spine. Please join me on my travels. I'd enjoy the company."
Contact me or follow my posts here: www.dianeackerman.com, @dianesackerman, www.facebook.com/dianeackerman.aut - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Waukegan, Illinois, USA
- Places of residence
- Ithaca, New York, USA
Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Discussions
The Zookeeper's Wife in Book talk (March 2010)
Reviews
This book is a delightful romp through the senses. While Diane Ackerman weaves in and out of the biological aspects of the human senses, she takes us through a ride. The ride takes us through our senses' role in literature, life, human relations, art, and many aspects of human endeavor.
Diane's book is a joyous romp, but don't read it in one sitting. If you wish to discover little worlds you have forgotten, read one chapter daily. Savour the material and let it sink in.
Remember, this book show more is not a thriller. Enjoy it and read it again after a few years. show less
Diane's book is a joyous romp, but don't read it in one sitting. If you wish to discover little worlds you have forgotten, read one chapter daily. Savour the material and let it sink in.
Remember, this book show more is not a thriller. Enjoy it and read it again after a few years. show less
The “Slender Thread” of the title is sometimes all that a troubled person has to hold onto life. Ackerman wrote this book based on her experience volunteering on a crisis hotline (often referred to as suicide prevention service). This is valuable, challenging, sometimes harrowing work, yet I had conflicted feelings while reading the book. I found it interesting to read about the training, the conversation strategies, and the transference of emotions onto the counselor. Yet, I felt show more conflicted about the detailed accounts of the problems of some of the clients. It’s conceivable that someone who had used this service would pick up the book and recognize him- or herself, although no real names are used.
This feeling became acute when Ackerman records her visit to a meeting she knew one of the hotline’s clients would be attending. This was deeply transgressive, and I read with feelings similar to those you get watching a horror movie and shouting at the screen, “don’t open that door.” From what Ackerman had reported of the instruction counselors receive, it’s clear that she knew what she was doing was a no-go. Yet, there is no reflection of this in the chapter itself, and it apparently had no consequences for her continued service at the center. On the contrary, at the end of the book, we learn that she joined the board of directors.
This was a family book club selection, and it was a good choice, for when we discussed it, we found we had a variety of responses to the book. Some related to issues such as those I’ve mentioned, others pertained to Ackerman’s writing style. She is a poet, and even her prose is filled with highly detailed observation in luxuriant language. She also seems incapable of writing one page without a metaphor, often more. I enjoyed the style, but not all of us did.
In addition to being a poet, she is also a naturalist. In parallel to her work at the center, she was researching a story on squirrels. Many chapters juxtapose her observations of their antics and the issues she deals with on the telephone line. That’s something we differed on as well. However, I felt I understood what she was doing, and in the last chapter, she confirmed it: She saw parallels in their behavior and what her clients dealt with. Ackerman is in no doubt that animals, too, can suffer depression.
So while I have reservations about the ethics of this book, I found it interesting and well-written, and I’m looking forward to reading more from her. show less
This feeling became acute when Ackerman records her visit to a meeting she knew one of the hotline’s clients would be attending. This was deeply transgressive, and I read with feelings similar to those you get watching a horror movie and shouting at the screen, “don’t open that door.” From what Ackerman had reported of the instruction counselors receive, it’s clear that she knew what she was doing was a no-go. Yet, there is no reflection of this in the chapter itself, and it apparently had no consequences for her continued service at the center. On the contrary, at the end of the book, we learn that she joined the board of directors.
This was a family book club selection, and it was a good choice, for when we discussed it, we found we had a variety of responses to the book. Some related to issues such as those I’ve mentioned, others pertained to Ackerman’s writing style. She is a poet, and even her prose is filled with highly detailed observation in luxuriant language. She also seems incapable of writing one page without a metaphor, often more. I enjoyed the style, but not all of us did.
In addition to being a poet, she is also a naturalist. In parallel to her work at the center, she was researching a story on squirrels. Many chapters juxtapose her observations of their antics and the issues she deals with on the telephone line. That’s something we differed on as well. However, I felt I understood what she was doing, and in the last chapter, she confirmed it: She saw parallels in their behavior and what her clients dealt with. Ackerman is in no doubt that animals, too, can suffer depression.
So while I have reservations about the ethics of this book, I found it interesting and well-written, and I’m looking forward to reading more from her. show less
I never like to give a bad review. It seems mean to the author and to those who like the book. However, in this case, someone should, just for balance.
This book was just a painful slog for me. If a friend hadn't recommended it so highly, I would have blessedly abandoned it. I finished it, finally, but found no there there. Reading it was like being stuck for weeks -- perhaps on a cruise to the Antarctic or at a summer job on a New Mexican ranch -- with a self-indulgent, self-centered show more 18-year-old girl who likes to recite why she was voted most likely to succeed and editor of the literary magazine at her competitive suburban high school.
Ackerman slathers purple prose alternately over strings of quotations dug up from better writers on the five senses, and -- and this is much worse -- pretentious personal anecdotes like her cruise to the Antarctic or her job on a "working cattle ranch" in New Mexico.
Her mode of nature writing, or science writing, or whatever this book purports to be, is to make an assertion that she attributes to "us," and then to puncture this alleged trope with recitations from a high school science textbook. Yes, the sky is not really blue, it just looks blue. This is not actually a revelation for most educated people.
Her language is overwrought. Her demonstrations of alleged poetic sensibility are transparent pleas for admiration. Her attempts on nearly every page to show herself as an epicurean of everything -- kissing! cold water! -- would embarrass anyone with a modicum of modesty or perspective, much less the actual Epicurius.
I wanted to give it one star, but I am reserving that for, I don't know, a fascist text, should I ever be forced to read one. So, two stars, in honor of the ten or so pages I found actually interesting. They were about other people, of course, that being artists with vision problems.
TLDR? Not quick. Not enjoyable. Not illuminating. Not worth it. show less
This book was just a painful slog for me. If a friend hadn't recommended it so highly, I would have blessedly abandoned it. I finished it, finally, but found no there there. Reading it was like being stuck for weeks -- perhaps on a cruise to the Antarctic or at a summer job on a New Mexican ranch -- with a self-indulgent, self-centered show more 18-year-old girl who likes to recite why she was voted most likely to succeed and editor of the literary magazine at her competitive suburban high school.
Ackerman slathers purple prose alternately over strings of quotations dug up from better writers on the five senses, and -- and this is much worse -- pretentious personal anecdotes like her cruise to the Antarctic or her job on a "working cattle ranch" in New Mexico.
Her mode of nature writing, or science writing, or whatever this book purports to be, is to make an assertion that she attributes to "us," and then to puncture this alleged trope with recitations from a high school science textbook. Yes, the sky is not really blue, it just looks blue. This is not actually a revelation for most educated people.
Her language is overwrought. Her demonstrations of alleged poetic sensibility are transparent pleas for admiration. Her attempts on nearly every page to show herself as an epicurean of everything -- kissing! cold water! -- would embarrass anyone with a modicum of modesty or perspective, much less the actual Epicurius.
I wanted to give it one star, but I am reserving that for, I don't know, a fascist text, should I ever be forced to read one. So, two stars, in honor of the ten or so pages I found actually interesting. They were about other people, of course, that being artists with vision problems.
TLDR? Not quick. Not enjoyable. Not illuminating. Not worth it. show less
Jan and Antonina were the proprietors of the Warsaw Zoo when the invasion by Germany in 1939 and the subsequent outbreak of World War 2 changed their lives forever. Jan worked for the Polish Underground and Antonina, a woman who had a way with animals and loved nurturing, headed up the villa when friends of theirs and Jews escaping the Ghetto needed a safe place to stay. This is her story, one of everyday courage and outstanding acts of kindness.
Diane Ackerman is known for her nature books, show more but she also is a writer of poetry, and treats Antonina's story with care. It's not a history, but a personal look at the life of one family who did what they could when the Nazis invaded and turned Warsaw inside out. The author especially shines when she talks about animal behavior in the zoo and Antonina's various pets, but her understated descriptions of war and atrocities makes some events all the more heartbreaking. Interspersed with these are gentler stories of everyday life and humorous anecdotes, but the war is always in the background. Intriguing details on the Nazi program to re-engineer extinct species even while decimating others put a horrifying perspective on what they were doing to humans as well. show less
Diane Ackerman is known for her nature books, show more but she also is a writer of poetry, and treats Antonina's story with care. It's not a history, but a personal look at the life of one family who did what they could when the Nazis invaded and turned Warsaw inside out. The author especially shines when she talks about animal behavior in the zoo and Antonina's various pets, but her understated descriptions of war and atrocities makes some events all the more heartbreaking. Interspersed with these are gentler stories of everyday life and humorous anecdotes, but the war is always in the background. Intriguing details on the Nazi program to re-engineer extinct species even while decimating others put a horrifying perspective on what they were doing to humans as well. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 39
- Also by
- 28
- Members
- 13,447
- Popularity
- #1,725
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 341
- ISBNs
- 217
- Languages
- 14
- Favorited
- 45
