Tamara Dean

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Kelly Kendall

A close-up of Tamara Dean.

Tamara Dean

media release: Wisconsin author Tamara Dean will celebrate the release of her new collection of essays on l iving mindfully with nature , Shelter and Storm: At Home in the Driftless (University of Minnesota Press, April 22, 2025), with a series of events across the state this spring as part of her Midwest book tour.

Tamara Dean sought a way to live lightly on the planet, and her quest drew her to a landscape unlike any other: the Driftless Area of Wisconsin. In this memoir of building a sustainable lifestyle, Dean’s boundless curiosity and gift for storytelling imbue her story with urgency and a sense of adventure. Keenly attentive to the stakes for our planet’s future, Shelter and Storm unites personal experience with science and history to illuminate a thoughtful way forward for anyone concerned about climate change and its far-reaching consequences.

Author Nancy Lord (Early Warming: Crisis and Response in the Climate-Changed North) praises Shelter and Storm, highlighting,"There is so much to admire in these beautifully written essays, but foremost are Tamara Dean’s sense of awe in the natural world, her citizen science undertakings, and her deep research into both history and biology. Significantly, she is clear-eyed about assaults on the environment, documenting among them fierce storms, flooding, fires, and the spread of Lyme disease as results of climate change. Although Dean’s homeplace is one particular area of Wisconsin, her passions and observations will resonate with readers everywhere."

Tamara Dean has been camping, fishing, hiking, and gathering wild foods from an early age, led and inspired by her parents. Her essays and stories have been published in The American Scholar, The Georgia Review, The Guardian, One Story, Orion, and The Progressive, and she is author of The Human-Powered Home: Choosing Muscles over Motors. She teaches writing independently and through writing centers across the nation.