Jeff VanderMeer

Jeff VanderMeer has explored “weird biology” and environmental issues in his novels for more than two decades. In the past few years, he has branched out to present his thoughts on the subject of storytelling and ecology — past, present, and future — as a keynote speaker at Vanderbilt, the University of Florida, the Sonic Acts festival in Amsterdam, MIT, and the Arthur C. Clarke Center for the Human Imagination. VanderMeer’s essays on these topics have appeared in the Guardian, Electric Literature, the Los Angeles Times, and on DePaul’s Nature & Culture blog. His novels include Finch and the Southern Reach Trilogy, the first novel of which, Annihilation, has been made into a movie by Paramount Pictures, directed by Alex Garland (2017). His next novel, Borne, will be published in 2017. He is currently serving as the 2016–2017 Trias Writer in Residence at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.