Terry Tempest Williams

Author profile

born

in Corona, California, The United States

September 05, 1955

gender

female

website

http://www.coyoteclan.com/

genre

Outdoors & Nature, Philosophy, Religion & Spirituality

About this author

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Terry Tempest Williams is an American author, conservationist and activist. Williams’ writing is rooted in the American West and has been significantly influenced by the arid landscape of her native Utah in which she was raised. Her work ranges from issues of ecology and wilderness preservation, to women's health, to exploring our relationship to culture and nature.

She has testified before Congress on women’s health, committed acts of civil disobedience in the years 1987 - 1992 in protest against nuclear testing in the Nevada Desert, and again, in March, 2003 in Washington, D.C., with Code Pink, against the Iraq War. She has been a guest at the White House, has camped in the remote regions of the Utah and Alaska wildernesses and worked as "...more Terry Tempest Williams is an American author, conservationist and activist. Williams’ writing is rooted in the American West and has been significantly influenced by the arid landscape of her native Utah in which she was raised. Her work ranges from issues of ecology and wilderness preservation, to women's health, to exploring our relationship to culture and nature.

She has testified before Congress on women’s health, committed acts of civil disobedience in the years 1987 - 1992 in protest against nuclear testing in the Nevada Desert, and again, in March, 2003 in Washington, D.C., with Code Pink, against the Iraq War. She has been a guest at the White House, has camped in the remote regions of the Utah and Alaska wildernesses and worked as "a barefoot artist" in Rwanda.

Williams is the author of Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place; An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field; Desert Quartet; Leap; Red: Patience and Passion in the Desert; and The Open Space of Democracy. Her book Finding Beauty in a Broken World was published in 2008 by Pantheon Books.

In 2006, Williams received the Robert Marshall Award from The Wilderness Society, their highest honor given to an American citizen. She also received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Western American Literature Association and the Wallace Stegner Award given by The Center for the American West. She is the recipient of a Lannan Literary Award for Nonfictionand a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in creative nonfiction. Williams was featured in Ken Burns' PBS series The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009). In 2011, she received the 18th International Peace Award given by the Community of Christ Church.

Williams is currently the Annie Clark Tanner Scholar in Environmental Humanities at the University of Utah and a columnist for the magazine The Progressive. She has been a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College where she continues to teach. She divides her time between Wilson, Wyoming and Castle Valley, Utah, where her husband Brooke is field coordinator for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

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Average rating: 4.05 · 7,990 ratings · 1,109 reviews · 43 distinct works · Similar authors

	Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place 4.1 of 5 stars 4.10 avg rating — 3,831 ratings — published 1991 — 10 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice 4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 avg rating — 828 ratings — published 2012 — 6 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert 3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 avg rating — 565 ratings — published 2001 — 4 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field 4.02 of 5 stars 4.02 avg rating — 508 ratings — published 1994 — 3 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Finding Beauty in a Broken World 3.86 of 5 stars 3.86 avg rating — 416 ratings — published 2008 — 5 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Open Space of Democracy by Terry Tempest Williams, Mary Frank (Illustrator) 4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 avg rating — 203 ratings — published 2004 — 3 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Leap 3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 avg rating — 233 ratings — published 2000 — 2 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Desert Quartet: An Erotic Landscape by Terry Tempest Williams, Mary Frank (Illustrator) 4.17 of 5 stars 4.17 avg rating — 120 ratings — published 1995 — 2 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Pieces of White Shell 3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 avg rating — 129 ratings — published 1984 — 3 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Coyote's Canyon by Terry Tempest Williams, John Telford 4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 avg rating — 71 ratings — published 1989 — 3 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Terry Tempest Williams

“This is my living faith, an active faith, a faith of verbs: to question, explore, experiment, experience, walk, run, dance, play, eat, love, learn, dare, taste, touch, smell, listen, speak, write, read, draw, provoke, emote, scream, sin, repent, cry, kneel, pray, bow, rise, stand, look, laugh, cajole, create, confront, confound, walk back, walk forward, circle, hide, and seek.”
― Terry Tempest Williams, Leap

tags: belief, faith, inspiration

262 people liked it

“Faith is not about finding meaning in the world, there may be no such thing -- faith is the belief in our capacity to create meaningful lives.”
― Terry Tempest Williams, Leap

tags: faith, inspiration, meaning

42 people liked it

“The world is holy. We are holy. All life is holy. Daily prayers are delivered on the lips of breaking waves, the whisperings of grasses, the shimmering of leaves.”
― Terry Tempest Williams

33 people liked it

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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The Seasonal Read...: Spring Challenge 2011 Completed Tasks (DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS)	2898	799	May 31, 2011 09:01pm
The Seasonal Read...: Fall Challenge 2012: Completed Tasks - DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS IN THIS TOPIC	2329	528	Dec 28, 2012 03:29pm
Around the World ...: Utah	4	72	Jan 27, 2013 07:52am
readers advisory ...: hard times	40	155	Jan 27, 2013 08:19pm
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Terry Tempest Williams

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Terry's Fans (113)

Terry Tempest Williams

Author profile

combine editionsTerry Tempest Williams's Books

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Quotes by Terry Tempest Williams

Topics Mentioning This Author

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combine editions
Terry Tempest Williams's Books