For many years now, Orion Magazine has been a guiding light for me as both reader and writer, so I'm especially grateful for the opportunity its editors gave Alexis Adams and myself to have an extended conversation about borders, belonging, rivers, forests, ecological grief, resistance and love. Called Heart's Home, this conversation grew out of … Continue reading Heart’s Home
No book is ever written in isolation or stands on its own. The work of writing one might seem like a solitary endeavour given the single name on its cover, but each is indelibly and essentially shaped by countless people, places, conversations and encounters hidden just out of sight beyond the edge of the page. … Continue reading Lifelines: A book’s beginnings
I first met Matina Galati in a grove of extraordinary juniper trees on a limestone mountain above the Prespa lakes where I live in northern Greece. That day, I’d been walking with the Hungarian gardener and botanist Máté Tálas and two friends of his when Matina arrived from Athens to join the group for the … Continue reading Artwork for Lifelines: Interview with Matina Galati
"For more than two decades now I’ve lived alongside the pelicans of the Prespa lakes in northern Greece. These birds are—for so many, residents and visitors alike—simply an astonishing and seamless part of being here. There is no Prespa without pelicans. In summer, the skies brighten with their flights, as hundreds of birds, their wingspans … Continue reading The Spirit of the Wetlands
He stood in cold sunlight beside the bus shelter, dressed in a dark overcoat and matching suit, a leather briefcase hanging from one hand. Unlike the rest of us, the man had his back to the road, his eyes fastened on three trees just the other side of the black iron railings that mark the … Continue reading The Wild Nearby
Julian Hoffman 