Janisse Ray grew up in a junkyard along U.S. Highway 1 near Baxley, GA. She is the author of ECOLOGY OF A CRACKER CHILDHOOD, which won the American Book Award, as well as many other honors. Since ECOLOGY she has published five books. THE SEED UNDERGROUND: A GROWING REVOLUTION TO SAVE FOOD came out from Chelsea Green Publishing in 2012. Most of her work is literary nonfiction and deals with the human relationship to nature, including such themes as community, the environment, wilderness, rural life, sustainability, sustainable agriculture, and the politics of wholeness. She earned an MFA from the University of Montana and holds two honorary doctorates, one from LaGrange College in LaGrange, GA and one from Unity College in Unity, ME. In November 2016 she was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame. She lives on an organic farm in a very rural part of southern Georgia.She writes poetry (A HOUSE OF BRANCHES) and fiction in addition to creative nonfiction.