Wedding of the Foxes: Essays

by Katherine Larson

“[Larson's] writing is brilliant tonic even amidst the flames. Especially amidst the flames. I’m grateful for it.”—Rick Bass, author of With Every Great Breath

From celebrated poet and ecologist Katherine Larson, an elegant collection of lyric essays that embraces fractures, contradictions, and the interconnectedness of life on Earth. Raising two children, coping with pandemic isolation, and grappling with the magnitude of the current extinction crisis, Katherine Larson finds herself in need of an antidote for despair. This is when Larson encounters kintsugi—the art of repairing broken pottery with gold-dusted lacquer. 

Wedding of the Foxes borrows from this ancient practice to create a new interpretative framework, one that seeks beauty in both breakage and unexpected connections. Here, Larson juxtaposes the elaborate courtship dance of sandhill cranes with scientific reports on diminishing avian populations to shed light on the urgency of climate crisis. She braids the wisdoms of a wonderfully varied range of forebears and predecessors—Gaston Bachelard, Tawada Yōko, Francis Ponge—who share her dream of a liberated consciousness. She weaves Susan Sontag’s examinations of cinematic disaster with the legacy of Godzilla to highlight nature as both savior and destroyer, and she writes letters to Japanese women writers whose work has taught her new ways of being. Each of these disparate parts come together to highlight the beauty in “what falls through the cracks and blurs into other moments.”

Brimming with the dazzling yet fragile relationships we share with each other and with other species, these lush microcosms invite us to embrace resilience and mindfulness—and the illuminating truth of our connections.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

Published July 15, 2025

About the author

Award winning artist who sold her first painting when she was fourteen years old.

Previously lived in Phoenix, Arizona and currently resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Reviews

[Marisca Pichette · Rating 5 out of 5]

A contemplative and enchanting collection from start to finish. Each essay acts as an intricately veined leaf waving in the wind—interconnected, meditative, and promising continual growth and change with every successive encounter.

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t know I could love a book of essays so much. The writing felt like I was curling up on a comfy couch next to a fire with a warm cup of tea. And then just as I felt comfy, the essay would shift to a world in which I wanted to dance with cranes and frolic with tree frogs. I wanted to read and then reread it all. I took notes in the margins and then found myself doodling because I was lost in the language and instead of commenting I just read. All I could think about after reading this book was how much I wanted to read Larson’s next piece.

[Chris Tomczyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 ⭐️ / 5 ⭐️

A refreshing break from my usual readings, “Wedding of the Foxes” is a complex and deeply intimate exploration of the impacts we as a species have on the world, each other, and ourselves. A collection of essays that sing with a melody of a populous with indecisive understanding of their impact, pieced together through the epithets of great Japanese writers. They are the golden seams holding the fragile pieces of the authors’s world together. What I liked the most is the cadence of each essay, try reading it out loud, even if you don’t bother to comprehend any meaning, the words in their order will soothe the senses. It worked on my 4-year old nephew, who sat and listened to me read it for an hour, which anyone can tell you is impressive.

[Claire Polders · Rating 5 out of 5]

“How are we supposed to live alongside the backdrop of all that’s awash in flame?” asks poet and ecologist Katherine Larson. She imagines non-binary alternatives to despair in nineteen gorgeous lyrical essays that are powerfully intimate and tenderly universal. We can observe leafy sea dragons, invite ghosts, converse with Japanese authors, apologize to foxes, open doors to monster dreams, crush blossoms into perfume, play collaborative surrealist games, and bleed into one another. Read this book in dappled light to drift, dissolve, and reconnect with the natural world.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to this book, I now know the word 'solastalgia'. This book, itself, is a poetic, philosophical, visceral journey through solastalgia. (And for me, also 'nostalgia', because this book is peak 'Katherine Larson', who has been writing beautiful words about the biological world since forever.)

Make a pot of tea and settle in.

[Frank Hickey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has the most exciting new writing that I have

seen in years. Elegant, thoughtful and beautifully wrought

prose reminds us how good writing can reach us.

Please give this book a try. She will sweep you up from

the first page.

***Frank Hickey, writer.

[C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grateful to have received an ARC of this fascinating collection!

[Laura Cranehill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Katherine Larson, and have been since Radial Symmetry. I love this book of essays, each one deserves savoring.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Life Makes a Sea of Superfluous Things

How charismatic
(are your fauna;
(who heart thrums
(against your skin)))?

Which artwork is a compass;
(which are mirrors)?