John Burroughs Association Award Luncheon

I had the privilege of attending the John Burroughs Association (JBA) annual luncheon yesterday (4/3/23), where they confer the Association's 2023 Literary Awards. The awards include the John Burroughs Medal, which was won by Kelby Ouchley for Bayou D'Arbonne Swamp: A Naturalist's Memoir of Place. Ouchley, a long-time U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official, has lived in and around the Louisiana bayou country for decades, studying alligators and working to restore natural ecosystems previously denuded by human activity. He gave an outstanding ten-minute talk. He strikes me as an appropriately crusty chap - I look forward to reading the book and reporting back. Nancy Lane, who illustrated A Warbler's Journey, which won one of the Riverby Awards for books for younger readers, also spoke movingly about the book and the process of working with author and naturalist Scott Weidensaul. Lane, a fine artist and experienced book illustrator, created 24 full-sized oil paintings to illustrate this beautiful book, which I just read. Wonderful. Oil paintings to illustrate children's books are unusual - I mentioned to her Thomas Locker, another (now deceased) Hudson River/Catskills-area artist and author who also used oil paintings to illustrate his books. I discovered him by reading his books to my (now adult) children when they were young - I now have two of his paintings hanging in my home. Perhaps one day I will have one of Ms. Lane's as well. Christina Rivera Cogswell won the Nature Essay Award for The 17th Day, which intertwines her story with the story of the orca who pushed along her dead calf for days. I will read the essay asap. I expect to cry. Other Riverby awards were won by an adaptation of Robin Wall Kimmerer's classic Braiding Sweetgrass for young adults, adapted by Monica Gray Smith and illustrated by Nicole Neidhardt, and Luminous: Living Things that Light Up the Night by Julia Kuo. Unfortunately, none of these award winners were able to attend. Notably, Kimmerer is the first person in the JBA Awards' long history to win all three categories - for book, essay, and young readers. The JBA does outstanding work both recognizing contemporary nature writers and maintaining JB's legacy (physical and otherwise). Look them up - and support them. I will. I would note this was my second consecutive year attending the lunch. And I look forward to next year!