Meet Adrienne Ross Scanlan
I’m a naturalist-writer and creative nonfiction editor.
My nature writing, personal essays, memoirs, and other creative nonfiction explore repair, restoration, and resilience. What I write about comes from my life experiences, whether being a mother, restoring salmon runs in city streams, or exploring landscapes of nature, spirit, family, politics, and community. I am a member of the NW Science Writers Association and other networks that bridge writers with readers.
As a freelance developmental editor, I work primarily with creative nonfiction writers. I am a graduate of the University of Washington’s Certificate in Editing program as well as Barbara Sjoholm’s course in developmental editing, and I’m a member of the Northwest Editors Guild (NWEG) and the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA).
From 2012 to 2017, I was the nonfiction editor of the Blue Lyra Review: A Literary Magazine of Diverse Voices, which celebrated four “notable essay” mentions in Best American Essays. Back issues are online, thanks to the Wayback Machine.
Among my (too many) other hats, I am also a reviewer for the New York Journal of Books, with a particular interest in books about nature and the environment.
My writing is inspired by my work as a (sub)urban naturalist and citizen scientist.
As a former New Yorker (who still reads the New York Times), I have spent the last 25 years in the Puget Sound region as a lay naturalist, citizen scientist, and ecological restoration volunteer, not to mention my former day job as a freelance grant writer working primarily with environmental and arts organizations.
My family lives north of Seattle in the Puget Sound suburbs, which makes me a (sub)urban naturalist. Our house is located on a former plant nursery, so the backyard is filled with western red cedars, Garry oaks, Pacific rhododendrons, a western white pine, and more nonnative trees than we can find in a plant guide (as well as the ubiquitous English ivy and Himalayan blackberry, of course). I’m also a not-too-bad chess player who enjoys hiking, listening to the beautiful music of Artie Shaw’s “Begin the Beguine,” and (slowly) learning Hebrew.
