Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s nonfiction debut, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments, came out in September, which felt like the perfect time for a book celebrating the natural world. All summer long, I’ve surrounded myself with books about nature, science, and the environment, and this book of essays and observations about family, home, love, and nature and its inhabitants feels like just the thing we need right now: a reminder to look around, to slow down, and to appreciate all of the living things, no matter how small.

Nezhukumatathil is also an award-winning poet, and this is clear in her evocative language and scenes in these essays. Despite a busy start to the year with her children doing remote learning and her own remote teaching, she graciously answered some questions via email.

I love the sense of awe and wonder that is laced throughout your essays, and how nature and our surroundings interact with our lives. Can you talk a little about your inspiration for this book?

It all started with a list of about 200 plants and animals that I adore—so really this entire book begins and ends with love. I was initially planning on making these short descriptions of solely just the animal or plant, but my husband encouraged me to add a little of my life into these pieces as well.

How did you decide what to put in the book?

I narrowed it down to the plants and animals that had a natural connection to my life or provided me with a setup for metaphor, music, and scenes to help connect these essays together.

You’ve written multiple books of poetry, but this is an essay collection. How was this form different for you? Do you prefer one over the other?

My MFA is actually in both nonfiction and poetry, and I love both genres for various reasons. I love the compression in poetry and I love the artful expansion in the essay. I can breathe in both genres, but in essays, I can fully exhale.

In your interview with Ross Gay for Publishers Weekly, you mentioned that the book felt a little like a love letter to your parents. As I read it, I also felt like it was about identity and place and family. How do you see the relationship between people and our environments?

I think sometimes people can forget how closely tied to the environment we are. One of the many, many sadnesses of this administration is the constant, almost glee to declare how much they don’t believe in science and facts, as if that should be somehow tied to a patriotism of sorts. But science always wins, and I try to have faith that people will be kind, that we will have leaders who will encourage kindness, not stoke fear and ignorance. I also hope that we broaden the conversation about who gets to enjoy the outdoors and who doesn’t, and who gets to tell stories about the outdoors and who doesn’t. As Margaret Atwood recently said, “the future is not written yet.” And I still have hope.

How do you think the creative community can support women, and mothers, especially?

I think we can encourage residencies and conferences to provide childcare or funds for childcare. We can set aside scholarships and fellowships like the Sustainable Arts Foundation for parents of all genders, and we can try to be mindful with professional “asks” and have some leniency built in for deadlines.

What are you struggling with, as a parent and as a writer, right now?

I have two sons learning virtually and my husband and I are both teaching full time virtually, and we all love being outdoors. I miss my students. I hate that so much of what we do now is online, and I don’t think it is healthy for a number of reasons, but my mother is living with us now and that supersedes everything for me. Still, we try to make it a point to take family walks and to be outdoors, especially on the weekends, but there is no set schedule for my husband (who is also a writer) and I to work on our own writing. Our main focus is ensuring the physical and emotional health of our family and though we don’t have the time to spend on our writing as we once did, we are able to find bits of time and for now that’s enough. We are all safe and together and that alone gives me such comfort and gratitude.

What books inspire you, and what are you reading right now?

I’m reading Caste by Isabel Wilkerson and Scorpionfish by Natalie Bakopoulos and The Shame by Makenna Goodman.

What’s on the horizon for you? I am working on a middle grade novel-in-verse, and poems—always more poems!