In the spring of 2011, award-winning author Wayne Grady spotted a Blue grosbeak on remote Pelee Island in Lake Erie, a spot well north of the bird’s typical range. The rare encounter inspired Grady to wonder about the reasons why species veer from their usual habitats. In this memorable essay, Grady uses the wandering Blue grosbeak — termed an “accidental” among birders — to discuss the role of change in nature, the sometimes fluid nature of habitat, and the worrying effects of climate change.

With a beautiful cover art by Windsor-based illustrator Julia Hall, only 200 of these hand-bound, limited-edition chapbooks have been produced.

Royalties on all sales are donated to our publishing partner, the Pelee Island Bird Observatory.

About Wayne Grady

Wayne Grady is the author of twenty books of fiction and literary nonfiction. Before writing books, he was a prolific magazine journalist, publishing award-winning articles in Saturday Night, Toronto Life, Canadian Geographic, Explore and Equinox magazines, among many others. For six years, he was the managing editor and then editor of Harrowsmith magazine. His books of science and nature include The Great Lakes: The Natural History of a Changing Region; Bringing Back the Dodo; Tree: A Life Story (with David Suzuki); The Quiet Limit of the World: A Journey to the North Pole to Investigate Global Warming; and, most recently, Pandexicon: How the Language of the Pandemic Defined Our New Cultural Reality. His first novel, Emancipation Day, was long-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Award and won the Amazon.ca First Novel Award in 2013; his other novels include Up From Freedom and The Good Father. He has translated 17 books from French to English, winning the Governor General’s Award for Literary Translation for his translation of Antonine Maillet’s On the Eighth Day in 1989. He is also the recipient of four Science in Society awards from the Science Writers of Canada. The Great Lakes was named an Outdoor Book of the Year, and his book Coyote was named the Best Book of 2010 for Young Readers by the New York Public Library. He and his wife Merilyn Simonds divide their time equally between Kingston, Ontario, and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.