Leader Details

Jennifer Ackerman Jennifer Ackerman is an award-winning science writer and speaker, and author of the New York Times bestselling books, What an Owl Knows, The Bird Way, and The Genius of Birds. She has been a bird lover since she was a child and went birdwatching with her father in Washington, D.C. She has been writing about nature and science for more than three decades.

Her most recent book, What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds (Penguin Press, June 2023), was an instant New York Times bestseller and has been described in reviews as "eloquent and engaging", "revelatory", a "fascinating read", "a masterful survey", and an "enchanting guide."

Jennifer's previous books include The Bird Way (2020), which won the 2021 Whitley Book Award and was a finalist for the 2021 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. The book was named a Best Science Book of 2020 by National Public Radio's "Science Friday" and a Nature Book of the Year by the London Sunday Times.

The Genius of Birds, published in 2016, was also a New York Times bestseller in both hardcover and paperback. It was a finalist for the 2017 National Academies Communication Book Award and was long-listed for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. The book was named one of the 10 best nonfiction books of 2016 by the Wall Street Journal, and a Best Science Book of 2016 by Science Friday. It has been published in 27 languages.

Jennifer's other books include Birds by the Shore, Chance in the House of Fate: A Natural History of Heredity, and Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream: A Day in the Life of Your Body. Her articles and essays have appeared in National Geographic, The New York Times, Scientific American, and many other publications.

Jennifer gives highly popular illustrated talks and has presented at hundreds of literary and nature festivals and other venues around the world, including the National Book Festival, the Aspen Ideas Festival, the Vancouver International Bird Festival, the Smithsonian Associates Program, the Melbourne Writers Festival, the Hay Festivals, and the Colombia Birdfair.

She has two daughters and lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.