Where to Start with J. Drew Lanham
J. Drew Lanham is a birder, naturalist, and Alumni Distinguished Professor of Wildlife Ecology at Clemson University whose writing brings together ornithology, memoir, and a deeply personal reckoning with race and landscape. A 2022 MacArthur Fellow, Lanham grew up in Edgefield County, South Carolina, where his family has lived since the era of slavery, and he has spent his career studying birds while asking what it means to be “the rare bird, the oddity” in a field overwhelmingly shaped by white culture. His work connects the act of watching birds to questions of belonging, identity, and the deep history embedded in the American land.
Start here
The Home Place
J. Drew Lanham · 240 pages · 2016 · Easy
Themes: nature writing, ornithology, race and identity, memoir, Southern landscape
The best starting point for J. Drew Lanham. This memoir, subtitled “Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature,” is a book about birds and belonging, about family and landscape, about what it means to love the land your ancestors were forced to work. It won the Reed Award from the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Southern Book Prize, and was a finalist for the John Burroughs Medal.
Why Start Here
Lanham’s academic writing and poetry are both excellent, but “The Home Place” is the book that brings everything together. It tells the story of his childhood in rural South Carolina during the 1970s, when he fell in love with the birds and woods around his family’s land. But it also tells the story of that land: who worked it, who owned it, who was buried in it.
The writing moves between tenderness and anger with an ease that never feels forced. Lanham describes the thrill of spotting a Swainson’s warbler with the same precision he uses to describe the weight of being one of the only Black faces at birding conferences. He is funny, self-aware, and generous with his readers, never simplifying the contradictions of loving a tradition that has not always loved him back.
For anyone who knows Sibley’s field guides or other birding literature, this book opens an entirely different door into the same world. It makes you see birds differently because it makes you see the people watching them differently.
What to Expect
A personal, accessible memoir at 240 pages. Lanham writes in short, vivid chapters that move between childhood memories, family history, bird observations, and reflections on race and conservation. The tone is warm but honest. No technical knowledge is required. You will come away with a deeper understanding of both American nature writing and the complicated relationship between Black Americans and the natural world.
Alternatives
J. Drew Lanham · 104 pages · 2021 · Easy
Lanham’s expanded poetry collection, subtitled “Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts,” blends lyric poetry with prose observations in a slim volume that reads like a birdwatcher’s journal filtered through a poet’s eye. Published by Hub City Press, this edition includes 30% new material beyond the original chapbook.
Why This One
Where “The Home Place” tells Lanham’s story in narrative prose, “Sparrow Envy” distills his vision into concentrated bursts of language. The poems circle around birds, watching, and being watched. Lanham catalogs not just the species he encounters but the experience of encountering them: the stillness, the patience, the sudden spark of recognition.
The collection also turns its gaze inward, exploring what it means to be a Black ornithologist in spaces that were not designed for him. The poems are accessible and grounded in the physical world. You do not need to know anything about poetry or birding to feel their weight.
What to Expect
A short, intense read at 104 pages. The poems are arranged loosely like a field guide, mixing verse with prose pieces and personal reflection. It can be read in a single sitting, though you may want to return to individual pieces. A perfect companion to “The Home Place” or a quick entry point if you prefer poetry to prose.