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WORK TITLE: Coast Range
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.nickneely.com/
CITY: Hailey
STATE: ID
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://www.nickneely.com/about/ * http://www.counterpointpress.com/authors/nick-neely/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married Sarah Bird (a painter).
EDUCATION:University of Nevada, Reno, M.A. (literature and the environment) 2009; Hunter College, M.F.A. (nonfiction writing); Columbia University, M.F.A. (poetry).
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and essayist. Worked at High Country News, Paonia, CO, and Audubon magazine; then Hunter College, New York, NY, teacher in Undergraduate Writing Program. Held residencies at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program, Woodside, CA, and the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, Otis, OR.
AWARDS:PEN Northwest’s Margery Davis Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency, c. 2009; John Burroughs Nature Award, 2015, for essay titled “The Book of Agate”‘; John Burroughs Medal finalist for natural history writing, 2017, for Coast Range; fellowships include the The University of California Berkeley-11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellowship.
WRITINGS
Author of a chapbook of essays titled Chiton, and Other Creatures, New Michigan Press. Contributor to periodicals, including Kenyon Review, the Threepenny Review, the Georgia Review, the Southern Review, the Missouri Review, Harvard Review, Fourth Genre, Field, Ninth Letter, Ecotone, River Teeth, Orion, and Mother Jones.
SIDELIGHTS
Nick Neely grew up south of San Francisco in Portola Valley, California, located on the bay side of the Santa Cruz Mountains. He loved the outdoors and often roamed through the mountains. Neely went on to earn a masters degrees in literature and the environment, nonfiction writing, and poetry. He is a contributor of essays, articles, and poems to periodicals and literary journals. He is also the author of a chapbook of lyrics essays titled Chiton, and Other Creatures.
Neely’s first full book of essays, Coast Range: A Collection from the Pacific Edge, refers to the region on which most of these essays discuss, the California and Oregon coastal ranges. Neely primarily focuses on the Rogue River area in Oregon, where Neely spend six months during a writing residency living off the grid in a cabin. Focusing on the environment, animals, and peoples’ interactions with both, Neely’s “observations have real staying power,” noted Booklist contributor Colleen Mondor.
Neely uses a variety of writing forms in his essays, from narrative journalist to lyric essay to memoir. One theme that commonly runs throughout Coast Range is the idea of “collecting,” which Neely has done since childhood when he began collecting things form the natural world. For example, Neely delves into his habit of collecting sea agates, characterized by their bright color, along the Oregon coast. “On a deeper level, it explores the notion of the essay as collection,” wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor.
In another essay, Neely follows the journey of salmon, beginning with their “collection” at a fish hatchery on to their fate winding up in a Casino kitchen on an Indian reservation. He also details a ceremony held by the Cow Creed band of the Umpqua Indians which involves releasing a cooked salmon back into the river. Other essays explore hummingbirds, bears, deer, newts, and gold mining along the Rogue River.
In an essay about coyotes, Neely delves into lore that depicts them as tricksters. The book’s final essay is a memoir discussing the time he and his wife spent in the remote cabin during his residency. The essay includes a history of humans in the area. “Neely capably explores the complexity of his subjects with polish and finesse, looking carefully and thinking deeply,” wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor. Judith B. Barnett, writing for Library Journal, wrote that readers did not have to be familiar with the area Neely writes about to enjoy the book, noting that Coast Range “will inspire YA [young adult] as well as general readers.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, September 15, 2016, Colleen Mondor, review of Coast Range: A Collection from the Pacific Edge, p. 15.
Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2016, review of Coast Range.
Library Journal, October 1, 2016, Judith B. Barnett, review of Coast Range, p. 98.
ONLINE
Counterpoint Press Website, http://www.counterpointpress.com/ (July 22, 2017), brief author profile.
Nick Neely Website, http://www.nickneely.com (July 22, 2017).*
NICK NEELY
Nick Neely credit Holly Myers
NICK NEELY grew up in Portola Valley, California, where he spent his youth roaming the oak, chaparral, and redwoods of the Santa Cruz Mountains. His essays, articles, and poems are published or forthcoming in Kenyon Review, The Threepenny Review, The Georgia Review, The Southern Review, The Missouri Review, Harvard Review, FIELD, Ninth Letter, Ecotone, River Teeth, Orion, and Mother Jones. He lives in Hailey, Idaho, with his wife, the painter Sarah Bird.
He is the author of:
Coast Range: A Collection from the Pacific Edge
About
Find Nick on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Nick Neely grew up south of San Francisco, in the oak and chaparral on the bay side of the Santa Cruz Mountains. His first book of essays, Coast Range: A Collection from the Pacific Edge, was published by Counterpoint Press in November and was named a finalist for the 2017 John Burroughs Medal for natural history writing. A chapbook of his lyrical animal essays, Chiton, and Other Creatures, is also available from New Michigan Press. He received an MA from the Literature and Environment program at the University of Nevada, Reno, in 2009, and afterward spent six months living in the woods of Oregon’s Rogue River Canyon as the recipient of PEN Northwest’s Margery Davis Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency. Following stints at High Country News and Audubon magazine, he completed an MFA in nonfiction from Hunter College and an MFA in poetry from Columbia University, where he taught in the Undergraduate Writing Program. His work is published or forthcoming in journals such as Kenyon Review, The Threepenny Review, The Georgia Review, The Southern Review, The Missouri Review, Harvard Review, Fourth Genre, FIELD, Ninth Letter, Ecotone, River Teeth, Orion, and Mother Jones. He has held residencies at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program and the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology on the Oregon coast. He is also the recipient of the 2015 John Burroughs Nature Essay Award (for his essay “The Book of Agate”) and a UC Berkeley-11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellowship. For his next book, Alta California, he recently completed a twelve-week walk from San Diego to San Francisco on the route of first overland Spanish expedition into California in 1769. He lives in Hailey, Idaho with his wife, the painter Sarah Bird.
Here he is, incognito, with a fish-bone mustache:
Fish Bone Mustache
Nick is represented by Sam Stoloff of the Frances Goldin Literary Agency.
Neely, Nick. Coast Range: A Collection from the Pacific Edge
Judith B. Barnett
Library Journal. 141.16 (Oct. 1, 2016): p98.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
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Neely, Nick. Coast Range: A Collection from the Pacific Edge. Counterpoint. Nov. 2016. 224p. ISBN 9781619028364. $25. NAT HIST
Essays focusing on the coastal regions of California and Oregon introduce readers to the plants and animals of the area and their roles in the environment. The author, recipient of the 2015 John Burroughs Nature Essay Award, has written for magazines such as Orion, Audubon, and MotherJones and conveys scientific facts in a lyrical style. A collector of natural objects since his California childhood, Neely presents chapters on chitons (marine molluscs), agate, salmon, hummingbirds, coyotes, gold mining (with dredges along the Rogue River), wild mushrooms, hummingbirds, bears, deer, and newts. Living in a mountain cabin while supported by a writing fellowship, Neely had time to explore and reflect on his surroundings and will inspire YA as well as general readers. VERDICT Fans of Joseph Wood Krutch, Henry David Thoreau, and John Muir will enjoy these essays even if they are not familiar with the specific geographic area--Judith B. Barnett, Univ. of Rhode Island Lib., Kingston
Coast Range: A Collection from the Pacific Edge
Colleen Mondor
Booklist. 113.2 (Sept. 15, 2016): p15.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
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Coast Range: A Collection from the Pacific Edge. By Nick Neely. Nov. 2016. 224p. Counterpoint, $25 (97816190283641. 917.94.
Neely's fascination with a huge swath of the Pacific Northwest coastal range is evident in this quiet essay collection that focuses on small details described in carefully studied prose. Writing about Northern California and Oregon, Neely delves into some familiar subjects (salmon and hummingbirds) while also devoting pages to more esoteric topics, such as collecting beach agates. His six months living off the grid in a writer's residency cabin on the Rogue River (part of the time with his wife, artist Sarah Bird) is chronicled in a lengthy essay that touches on history, nature, and no small degree of self-awareness, as his isolation proves to be mind-altering on multiple levels. This is the sort of introspective writing that will appeal strongly to readers seeking to gain a deeper appreciation of their environment, and those with curiosity about or longing for the region he knows so well. Neely clearly spent a lot of time watching and listening, both to the people and animals that call the area home, and his observations have real staying power.--Colleen Mondor
Nick Neely: COAST RANGE
Kirkus Reviews. (Sept. 15, 2016):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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Nick Neely COAST RANGE Counterpoint (Adult Nonfiction) 25.00 11, 8 ISBN: 978-1-61902-836-4
A collection of essays that focuses on the interaction between humans and the natural world in and around the Rogue River in Oregon, where the author spent six months doing a writing residency.The initial essay in Neely’s first full-length book introduces readers to his style as well as subject matter. Superficially, the essay, which includes almost as much white space as print, concerns the “semi-worthless” beach agates the author has collected along the Oregon coast. On a deeper level, it explores the notion of the essay as collection, allowing quotations from the likes of Carl Jung and Pliny the Elder to rub up against scientific facts and personal recollections, sparking new meanings. Other such challenging pieces include a sly meditation on Coyote, both as animal and trickster figure, and an exploration of chanterelles. If this were Neely’s only style, it might start to seem precious. But throughout these finely tuned essays that vary intriguingly in form and tone, the author shows that he is capable of more traditional, sustained pieces. One example is the chronicle of his experience with the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Indians as they performed a ceremony releasing a cooked salmon back into the river, as well as that of a less-ceremonial jaunt with the local fish hatchery guys as he helped them pitchfork dead salmon into the river to enrich the depleted nitrogen content. Death and human intervention into natural systems—with its usual mixed results—are central to these essays. The collection culminates in a long piece about the months Neely and his wife spent on a homestead out in the woods. Here again, acute observations of nature and records of the human history of the place are at least as prominent as anecdotes of their life. Neely capably explores the complexity of his subjects with polish and finesse, looking carefully and thinking deeply.