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Owls of the Eastern Ice

  • L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library, Riverview Room 400 Eau Claire Street Eau Claire, WI, 54701 United States (map)

Jonathan Slaght

If you weren’t able to join us for Slaght’s live event or are interested in watching it again, click below to watch the recording.


There are still wild places in the world; places that we should celebrate and protect. Jonathan Slaght led a five-year study of an endangered and little-known owl species in Russia called the Blakiston’s fish owl. These salmon eaters are the largest owls in the world and live in some of the most difficult-to-access forests of northeast Asia. Slaght will describe the owls and his project, the adventures and struggles of fieldwork, writing Owls of the Eastern Ice, and on-going conservation efforts with this endangered species.

WATCH OWLS OF THE EASTERN ICE BOOK TRAILER

OWLS OF THE EASTERN ICE AWARDS

  • PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award 2021

  • New York Times Notable Book 2020

  • Wall Street Journal 10 Best Books of 2020

  • The Times Nature Book of the Year 2020

  • National Book Award longlist 2020

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JONATHAN SLAGHT is a biologist and author. As the Regional Director for the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Temperate Asia Program, his duties include oversight of WCS activities in Russia, Mongolia, China, Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Iran. His first book, Owls of the Eastern Ice, was published in 2020 to acclaim. His other writings, scientific research, and photographs have been featured in the BBC, the New York Times, The Guardian, Smithsonian Magazine, The New Yorker, and Audubon Magazine, among others. He is currently under contract with Farrar, Straus, and Giroux to write a second book, titled Tigers Between Empires, about tiger conservation in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Learn more about Jonathan Slaght at jonathanslaght.com.