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Kim Todd is an award-winning science and history writer.
Her most recent book is SENSATIONAL, THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF AMERICA'S "GIRL STUNT REPORTERS" (HarperCollins 2021), a vivid work of narrative nonfiction that brings to light the writers who went undercover and into danger to expose the rot at the heart of the Gilded Age. Kirkus called it “An engaging and enlightening portrait of trailblazers who ‘challenged…views of what a woman should be.’”
Previous books include SPARROW (Reaktion 2012). Part of Reaktion Books popular "Animal Series," SPARROW explores the history and natural history of this much loved, much hated bird.
CHRYSALIS, MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN AND THE SECRETS OF METAMORPHOSIS (Harcourt, 2007) looks at the life of a pioneering explorer/ naturalist who traveled to South America in 1699 to study insect metamorphosis. The story also traces ideas about metamorphosis through time. The New Yorker called it a “spellbinding biography,” and Kirkus said CHRYSALIS was “a breathtaking example of scholarship and storytelling.” It was selected as one of 25 “Books to Remember” for 2008 by the New York Public Library. Research for CHRYSALIS led her to Surinam to retrace Merian's steps through the rain forest.
Her first book, TINKERING WITH EDEN, A NATURAL HISTORY OF EXOTIC SPECIES IN AMERICA (W.W. Norton 2001), tells the stories of non-native species and how they arrived in the United States. Species covered range from pigeons, brought over by some of the earliest colonists, to starlings, imported by a man who wanted to bring all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare to Central Park. The book explores our developing understanding of exotic species as we become more aware of the potential problems they may pose for native ecosystems. TINKERING WITH EDEN received the PEN/ Jerard Award and the Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award and was selected as one of Booklist’s Top Ten Science/ Technical Books for 2001.
Todd has lectured extensively about Merian, women in history, and the intersection of history and biology, including talks at the Getty Museum, the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the Denver Botanical Gardens, and Wellesley College.
She lives in Minneapolis with her husband and two children. Please visit her at www.kimtodd.net.
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