In this Ravishing World is a sweeping, impassioned short story collection, ringing out with joy, despair, and hope for the natural world. Nine connected stories unfold, bringing together an unforgettable cast of dreamers, escapists, activists, and artists, creating a kaleidoscopic view of the climate crisis. An older woman who has spent her entire life fighting for the planet sinks into despair. A young boy is determined to bring the natural world to his bleak urban reality. A scientist working to solve the plastic problem grapples with whether to have a child. A ballet dancer endeavors to inhabit the consciousness of a rat. In this Ravishing World is a full-throated chorus— with Nature joining in— marveling at the exquisite beauty of our world, and pleading, raging, and ultimately urging all of its inhabitants toward activism and resistance.
Nina Schuyler’s novel, Afterword, was published in 2023. Her novel, The Translator, won the Next Generation Indie Book Award for General Fiction and was shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Writing Prize. Her novel, The Painting, was shortlisted for the Northern California Book Award. Her nonfiction book, How to Write Stunning Sentences, is a bestseller. She teaches creative writing for Stanford Continuing Studies and the University of San Francisco. She lives in California.
In This Ravishing World also won The Prism Prize for Climate Literature. ... Not only does it cover every facet of the climate issue and the ongoing efforts at dealing with or denying/undermining what needs to be done. Nature's presence embraces the entire narrative and leads a sense of enchantment. ... This book made me laugh and cry, and gave me a ray of hope.
– Gail Collins-Ranadive, author of Dinosaur Dreaming, Our Climate Moment
"With astonishing dexterity and deep empathy, Schuyler takes the readers on a capacious journey with people from all walks of life: environmentalists, families, children, dancers, workers, hackers, and many more. Her spellbinding prose and unflinching vision overwhelm me with contrition for our prodigal past, trepidation for our fraught present, and hope for our perilous future on Mother Earth."
– Yang Huang, author of My Good Son and My Old Faithful
"In This Ravishing World, by Nina Schuyler, captures varied respones to impending environmental catastrophe: denial, depression, anger, panic. Radicals, computer nerds, artists, disenfranchised youth, environmentalists, and the top .01 percent are all brought together in a collection of linked stories that become one magnificent story of hope and despair, love and fear, and the ongoing quest for personal and planetary survival. Both scientifically accurate and emotionally compelling, this book is necessary, timely, and wise."
– Lucille Lang Day, author of Birds of San Pancho and Other Poems of Place and coeditor of Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California
Laura Cogan is Editor at Large at ZYZZYVA and a freelance editor and nonprofit consultant. Until 2023, she served as the Editor and Executive Director of ZYZZYVA for over 10 years. During her tenure, work from the journal was frequently recognized by the Best American series, and the Pushcart and O.Henry Prize anthologies, and the journal was awarded a Whiting Literary Magazine Prize, The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses’ Firecracker Award for Best Magazine, and the Recognition Award from the Northern California Book Awards. Laura has been an invited speaker and panelist at numerous conferences and schools, including The Community of Writers, Saint Mary’s College, Whittier College, USF, Napa Valley Writers’ Conference, Litquake, CLMP, and The LA Times Festival of Books. She serves on the board of New Literary Project, and holds a B.A. and an M.A. from New York University.
Nina Schuyler photo courtesy of author. Laura Cogan photo credit Christopher Michel