“{A] cascade of a story, colored by sun and water and driven by courage and determination.”
— Deborah Blum, New York Times Book Review
Experience the thrilling true story of two botanists in the Grand Canyon in 1938
In the summer of 1938, botanists Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter set off down the Colorado River, accompanied by an ambitious expedition leader, a zoologist, and two amateur boatmen. No one had surveyed the Grand Canyon’s plants, and they were determined to be the first.
Starred reviews
“A spellbinding writer of informed and ardent attentiveness, wit, and empathy, Sevigny splendidly conveys the dramatic beauty of this unique landscape.”
— Booklist
“Sevigny recreates their expedition in novelistic detail, producing a narrative as propulsive as the current of the Colorado. Readers will be swept away.”
— Publisher’s Weekly
“[A] beautiful tribute to two pioneering women of science.”
— Kirkus
About me
An award-winning journalist, author, poet, and public speaker, Melissa L. Sevigny’s work explores the intersections of science, nature, and history. She is author of three books of nonfiction, including Brave the Wild River, and her writing appears in Orion, High Country News, Arizona Highways, and The New York Times. She lives in Flagstaff, Arizona, with her husband, where she has too many houseplants and a very demanding cat.
Upcoming Events
Perrot Memorial Library
Wed. March 4, 2026
Virtual
Vermont River Conservancy
Thurs. March 26, 2026
Virtual
Sweet Briar College
Wed. April 22, 2026
Sweet Briar, Virginia
Read an excerpt of Brave the Wild River
They entered, at last, the Grand Canyon. The date was July 13, 1938. Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter, two botanists at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, had started down the river 23 days earlier with three boats and four amateur boatmen, none of whom had run the Grand Canyon before. Pale, water-pocked ledges of Kaibab limestone rose out of the Colorado, laid down 270 million years ago when the desert was a sea.
Had they been geologists, they would have marveled at their plunge into the past, each river mile eating away another chunk of history, 10,000 years with every splash of the oars. There were secrets to be told here: about past climates, warm shallow seas, the inexorable work of uplift and erosion, and the catastrophic clawing of landslides and floods.
But Clover and Jotter had come to find plants…
Latest Writing
National Parks Magazine
Winter 2025
“Wild River, Ghost Lake”
New York Times
September 2025
“Birds who help humans and other tales of inter-species cooperation”
Arizona Highways
January 2026
“Riding High,” with photography by John Burcham
Hire me
I’m an experienced science writer, essayist, public speaker, and podcast producer. I also offer communication workshops for scientists in group settings or one-on-one consultations.
science writer, author, speaker
Melissa L. Sevigny 