Animals Strike Curious Poses
With exuberant wit, Elena Passarello casts her gaze on famous historical animals, crafting an essay collection organised as medieval bestiary.
Beginning with Yuka, a 39,000 year old mummified woolly mammoth recently found in the Siberian permafrost, each of the 16 essays in Animals Strike Curious Poses investigates a different famous animal named and immortalised by humans. Modelled loosely after a medieval bestiary, these witty, playful, whipsmart essays traverse history, myth, science, and more, bringing each beast vibrantly to life.
'It might be the best book on animals I’ve ever read. It’s also the only one that’s made me laugh out loud.' — Helen MacDonald for The New York Times Book Review
Elena Passarello is an essayist, teacher, and performer whose work has appeared in National Geographic, Paris Review, Audubon, the New York Times, and Best American Science and Nature Writing. In 2019, Outside named Elena one of “25 Essential Women Authors Writing About the Wild.” A recipient of the Whiting Award in nonfiction and the Oregon Book Award, her writing has been translated into five languages. She teaches in the MFA program at Oregon State University, and can be heard weekly on PRX arts and culture radio show Live Wire!
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