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From "The Sierra: A History," in All the Fires of Wind
and Light (Sixteen Rivers Press)

 

By Maya Khosla, Sonoma County Poet Laureate Emerita

Not long after lightning has rushed down

the electric staircase of its own making,

not long after fires three stories tall have swept

up-canyon, a new season the size of pearls begins.

About

About
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Wildlife Biologist and Writer

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Maya Khosla is a wildlife biologist and writer. She has documented forests, fire scientists and firefighters talking about ways to be wise about wildfire. Maya’s work has taken her across coastal India, Kenya, and the United States. Her work takes her to wilderness areas, to the page and to the screen. As Poet Laureate Emerita of Sonoma County (2018–2020), she directed Shelter in Poetry films for students and families.  The films featured poetry lessons by Iris Jamahl Dunkle and Phyllis Meshulam.

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Writing

Writing

Maya’s essays have appeared in Wild Hope, Flyway, Yes Magazine, Humans and Nature, and elsewhere. Her poetry collections are All the Fires of Wind and Light (Sixteen Rivers Press; 2020 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award), Keel Bone (Bear Star Press; Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize) and in Heart of the Tearing (Red Dust Press).  She has written for the films Village of Dust, City of Water, and Shifting Undercurrents, and is currently working on a series of short films.

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Being Firewise

Being Firewise

In Conversation and Firewise: The Scientists Speak will are films-in-progress about wildfire, fire safety. Leading scientists and firefighters tell their stories and explain the best available science about one of the most misunderstood forces of nature.

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Searching for the Gold Spot: The Wild After Wildfire is devoted to the biodiversity of wildlife in intact forests after wildfire -- with a special focus on black-backed woodpeckers. Supported by Leonardo di Caprio Foundation, Patagonia, Environment Now and Fund for Wild Nature, Sacramento Audubon Society, and sponsored by From the Heart Productions, the film has being screened in film festivals and other venues across the United States.

Research

Research

Firewise: The Scientists Speak will be the second film about wildfire. Leading scientists and firefighters tell their stories and explain the best available science about one of the most misunderstood forces of nature.

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Searching for the Gold Spot: The Wild After Wildfire is devoted to the wild after wildfire. Supported by Patagonia, the Sacramento Audubon Society, Environment Now and 

Fund for Wild Nature, and sponsored by From the Heart Productions, the film is being screened in film festivals and other venues across the United States.

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For the past 15 years, Maya Khosla’s work in the natural world has taken her to wilderness areas, to the page and to the screen.  She has spent eight years documenting the high biodiversity in the post-fire forest of the forests of the Sierra Nevada-Cascades Mountain Region and California's coastal forests. For several years, Maya worked in India on The Turtle Diaries Project, a collaborative effort with Dusty Foot Productions. The field efforts in India’s western state of Gujarat, the eastern state of Orissa, the Andaman Islands and the Lakshadweep Islands. 

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