Erin Sharkey is a writer, arts and abolition organizer, cultural worker, and film producer based in Minneapolis. She is the editor of A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing from Soil to Stars (Milkweed Editions ’23). Erin is a founding coop member of the Fields at Rootsprings, a retreat and respite space in central MN, and co-founder, with Junauda Petrus, of an experimental arts collective called Free Black Dirt. She is the producer of film projects, including Small Business Revolution, which explored challenges and opportunities for Black-owned businesses in the Twin Cities in the summer of 2021. Sharkey has received fellowships and residencies from the Loft Mentor Series, Penumbra Theatre, Bell Museum of Natural History, Black Visions, Headwaters Foundation for Justice, and the Jerome Foundation. She has an MFA in creative writing from Hamline University and teaches with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop. Look for her as the Revisionary as part of the Loft Literary Center's Lit! Commons.
A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing from Soil to Stars
Milkweed Editions, 2023
- A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2023
- A Library Journal Recommended Read for 2023
- A Ms. Magazine Most Anticipated Book of 2023
- "A well-curated assemblage of Black voices that draws profound connections among family, nature, aspiration, and loss."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)