J. Drew Lanham

Professor J. Drew Lanham is an influential American author, poet, wildlife biologist, and conservation thinker whose work uniquely blends rigorous science with evocative art to deepen our understanding of nature, culture, and the human spirit. A native of Edgefield and Aiken, South Carolina, Lanham has spent more than two decades on the faculty of Clemson University, where he serves as Alumni Distinguished Professor, Provost’s Professor, and Master Teacher of Wildlife Ecology in the Forestry and Environmental Conservation Department. His teaching, research, and outreach explore how forest management impacts wildlife and how people’s cultural backgrounds influence their relationships with the natural world, an approach that has reshaped conversations around conservation and environmental equity.

Lanham’s literary work has garnered national attention. His memoir “The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature” won the Reed Environmental Writing Award and the Southern Book Prize, and was named among the best scholarly books of the decade. He is also the author of “Sparrow Envy: Poems” and “Sparrow Envy: A Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts,” and his 2024 collection “Joy Is the Justice We Give Ourselves” examines themes of joy, ancestry, and the intertwined crises of racial injustice and ecological decline.

In recognition of his groundbreaking contributions to environmental thought and storytelling, Lanham was named a 2022 MacArthur Fellow, often referred to as a “genius grant,” and was listed among The Root’s 100 most influential Black Americans. He has been awarded the 2024 Henry David Thoreau Prize for Nature Writing and an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship. Lanham regularly speaks at conferences, universities, and festivals, and his essays and poems appear in outlets such as Orion, Audubon, and Vanity Fair. His work invites readers to see conservation not only as science but as a deeply human and cultural endeavor.