About Kelsey K. Sather

Hello! I’m Kelsey, author of the Ancient Language of the Earth series.

My writing career began with environmental nonfiction work, including essays and articles about sustainable food, habitat conservation, and outdoor sports.

Yet I’ve always been partial to the fantasy, historical fiction, and magical realism genres, so following graduate school, I began penning what would become Birth of the Anima between working at the local climbing gym and facilitating workshops at a writing center I co-founded in my hometown of Bozeman.

The idea for the series came from a core question I often encountered in my nonfiction writing: why did humans become disconnected from the ecological systems we live within, and at what cost?

In my fantasy series, I use magic as a tool to explore this question in an alternate world called Aligaea, or, “other Earth.” I believe fantastical stories invite us to explore complex questions with curiosity and play, which has the potential to lead us to new thoughts and perhaps even new ways of being.

Apart from writing, my interests are many and varied: I love reading, of course, and arts and crafts of all kinds, especially painting with watercolors. I also love being outside, with climbing as a preferred past time, followed closely by hunting and skiing.

My ideal places are the ones without cell service. I have lived in the Sierras of California, the Bighorns of Wyoming, Salt Lake City, and Wales. I was born and raised in Montana where I currently dwell with my husband, dog, and cat.

Cheese is my favorite food, particularly swiss varieties. I worked as a baker for years, specializing in gluten free pastries, (I’m a celiac). I often eat cookies as a “breakfast appetizer” and am on a mission to perfect the cinnamon roll. I have way too many gnomes and indoor plants (18 and 42, respectively) and am known to shriek whenever a puppy appears.

I prefer small groups for socializing, hygge style. I am an adamant believer in the power of nature for mental health. Friends and family are sacred to me, though I can be uncomfortably competitive when it comes to playing board games.

While the world is changing fast, and the future of our planet remains precarious between climate change and the sixth mass extinction, I still believe solutions to the ecological crisis exists, which is why I started the Biocene Foundation. I encourage you to read the interviews on the Biocene Blog with the folks working tirelessly toward these solutions. They are heroes, and their stories are the real fantastical sagas we need to celebrate.

Work on the Ancient Language of the Earth series continues! In the meantime, I hope you’ll join me on my quarterly journal, Salvaged. You can also find me on Instagram, though I don’t frequent the platform.

Bottom line: at the heart of my writing and advocacy work is the hopeful intention to help foster deeper connections between people and the ecosystems we call home. Our planet is a magical place. We’re lucky to be here, together.