Carl Safina

Carl Safina’s lyrical non-fiction writing explores how humans are changing the living world, and what the changes mean for non-human beings and for us all. His work fuses scientific understanding, emotional connection, and a moral call to action. His writing has won a MacArthur “genius” prize; Pew, Guggenheim, and National Science Foundation Fellowships; book awards from Lannan Foundation, Orion Magazine, and the National Academies; and the John Burroughs, James Beard, and George Rabb medals. He grew up raising pigeons, training hawks and owls, and spending as many days and nights in the woods and on the water as he could. Safina’s studies of seabirds earned him a PhD in ecology from Rutgers University. He then spent a decade working to ban high-seas drift nets and to overhaul U.S. fishing policy before focusing mainly on writing. His writing appears in The New York Times, TIME, The Guardian, Audubon, Yale e360, and National Geographic, and online at Huffington Post, CNN, Medium, and elsewhere. His books include the classic, "Song for the Blue Ocean," and "Beyond Words; What Animals Think and Feel." Beyond Words has been adapted into a 2-volume young-reader's edition. Carl also has an illustrated children's book, "Nina Delmar and The Great Whale Rescue." His 2023 book is, "Alfie and Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe." Safina is now the first Endowed Professor for Nature and Humanity at Stony Brook University and is founding president of the not-for-profit Safina Center. He hosted the PBS series Saving the Ocean, which can be viewed free online. Carl lives on Long Island, New York with his wife Patricia and their dogs and feathered friends.