Terry Tempest Williams
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- For other people of the same name, see Terry Williams.
Terry Tempest Williams (born September 8, 1955), is an American author, naturalist, and environmental activist. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, the desert landscape she was raised in has significantly influenced her writing, much of which concerns or is set in the deserts of the American West. Her works touch on a variety of issues, including issues of ecology and natural preservation, feminism, health/cancer issues, and the Mormon culture. As an activist, she has done everything from serving time in jail for civil disobedience to testifying before Congress on women’s health issues. She is currently the Annie Clark Tanner Scholar in Environmental Humanities at the University of Utah. She divides her time between Castle Valley, Utah, with her husband, Brooke, who also serves as executive director of the Murie Center in Moose, WY. Williams also serves on the board of Round River Conservation Studies, an international wildlife conservation organization based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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[edit] Early Life, Education, and Work
Terry Tempest Williams was born in 1955 in Salt Lake City, Utah, within sight of the Great Salt Lake, which influenced her writing. A fifth-generation Mormon, she was raised in the Mormon faith by her mother, Diane (Dixon) Tempest. This religious upbringing shaped Williams’ spiritual appreciation with the land, especially in Utah.
Atomic testing in the nearby Nevada deserts between 1951 and 1962 exposed Williams’ family to a great deal of radiation, which Williams believes is the reason so many members of her family have been affected by cancer. By 1994, nine members of the Tempest family had had mastectomies, and seven had died of cancer. Some of the family members affected by cancer included Williams’ own mother and grandmother, and Williams has speculated that it is only a matter of time until she develops cancer as well.
In 1978, Williams graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelor of Science degree, followed by a Master of Science degree in environmental education in 1984. Williams met her husband, Brooke Williams, in 1974 while working part-time at a Salt Lake City bookstore, where he was a customer. The two married six months after their first meeting. After graduating from college, Williams worked as a teacher on a Navajo Reservation in Montezuma Creek, Utah. Williams has also worked at the Utah Museum of Natural History, first as curator of education and later as naturalist-in-residence.
[edit] Writing Career
In 1984, Williams also published her first book, ‘’The Secret Language of Snow’’, aimed towards children, which received varied criticisms but not a great deal of attention. Over the next few years, Williams published three other books: “Pieces of White Shell: A Journey to Navajo Land”, “Between Cattails”, and “Coyote’s Canyon”, all of which had generally good reviews, but also did not garner a great deal of attention.
Williams finally gained significant national attention in 1991, with her book Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place. The book interweaves memoir and natural history, recounting her mother's battle with ovarian cancer along with the concurrent flooding of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, a place special to Williams since childhood. The book's epilogue, The Clan of One-Breasted Women, explores whether the high incidence of cancer in her family might be due to their status as downwinders during the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's above-ground nuclear testing in the 1950s and 60s. This book received the 1991 Evans Biography Award from the Mountain West Center for Regional Studies at Utah State University.[1]
With her co-editor Stephen Trimble, she created Testimony: Writers Speak On Behalf of Utah Wilderness, a landmark effort by twenty American writers hoping to sway public policy by placing a chapbook of essays about the significance of Utah wilderness on the desk of every member of the United State Congress. This book was held up by President Bill Clinton as an influence at the dedication ceremony of the new Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument at the Grand Canyon in 1996.
Among her other books are Pieces of White Shell, An Unspoken Hunger, Leap, Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert, and The Open Space of Democracy. She has written two natural history books for children, and an essay for a photography book, Wild Birds of the American Wetlands.
[edit] List of Written Works
[edit] Books
- The Secret Language of Snow (for children; co-authored with Ted Major), 1984.
- Pieces of White Shell: A Journey to Navajoland, 1984.
- Between Cattails, 1985.
- Coyote's Canyon, 1989.
- Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, 1991, ISBN 0-679-74024-4.
- Leap, 2000.
- Illuminated Desert’’, 2008.
- Finding Beauty In A Broken World, 2008.
[edit] Poetry Collections
- Between Cattails (for children), 1985.
- Earthly Messengers, 1989.
[edit] Essay Collections
- An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field, 1994.
- Desert Quartet: An Erotic Landscape, 1995.
- Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert, 2001.
- The Open Space of Democracy, 2004.
[edit] Works Edited by Terry Tempest Williams
- Great and Peculiar Beauty: A Utah Centennial Reader(edited with Thomas J. Lyon), 1995.
- Testimony: Writers in Defense of the Wilderness(compiled with Stephen Trimble), 1996.
- New Genesis: A Mormon Reader on Land and Community(edited with William B. Smart, and Gibbs M. Smith), 1998.
[edit] Achievements, Awards and Positions Held
- Governing Council of The Wilderness Society
- President's Council for Sustainable Development, western team member
- National Parks and Conservation Association, advisory board member
- Round River Conservation Studies, board member
- The Nature Conservancy
- Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
- Advocate for America's Redrock Wilderness Act
- Former naturalist-in-residence at the Utah Museum of Natural History
- Annie Clark Tanner Fellow in Environmental Studies at the University of Utah, 2004
- Honorary Doctor of Humanities, the University of Utah, 2003
- Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, 2004
- Wallace Stegner Award for the Center for the American West, 2005
- Distinguished Achievement Award from the Western American Literature Association, 2006
- Inducted into the Rachel Carson Honor Roll
- National Wildlife Federation's Conservation Award for Special Achievement
- One of the "Utne Reader's" "Utne 100 Visionaries"
- John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow
- Lannan Literary Fellowship in Creative Nonfiction
- Recognized by the Mormon Arts & Letters Association
- Robert Marshall Award from the Wilderness Society, 2006
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Previous Winners - Evans Biography Award" (PDF). Mountain West Center for Regional Studies at Utah State University. http://www.usu.edu/mountainwest/prevwinners.pdf. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
[edit] References
- Anderson, Lorraine, John P. O'Grady, and Scott Slovic, eds. Literature and the Environment. New York: Longman, 1999.
- Kupfer, David. "Terry Tempest Williams Interveiw". The Progressive Online. http://www.progressive.org/?q=node/334. Retrieved 2009-03-25.
- "Biography". http://www.coyoteclan.com/bio.html. Retrieved 2009-03-25.
- "Bibliography". 2008-09-23. http://www.coyoteclan.com/bibliography.html. Retrieved 2009-04-02.
- Ives, Susan. "A Conversation with Terry Tempest Williams". Land & People. http://www.tpl.org/tier3_cdl.cfm?content_item_id=1220&folder_id=831. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
- Williams, Terry Tempest, "World Authors 1990-1995", Biography Reference Bank (H. W. Wilson), 1999, http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com, retrieved 2009-04-02
[edit] External links
- Coyote Clan - Terry Tempest Williams' Home Page
- Whole Terrain link to Williams' articles published in Whole Terrain
