Rock climbing in Grand Ledge, MI (photo by Richard Button)
Rachael Shay Button hails from Metro Detroit but currently lives and works with her husband Peter at the Conserve School in northern Wisconsin.
Six years ago, Rachael received her MFA in Creative Writing and Environment from Iowa State University–a program which not only emphasizes writing craft but also field work and environmental engagement. The concepts of “place”, environment, and education have been central to Rachael’s work as a writer, an educator, and a community organizer.
At her core, Rachael is an explorer who loves learning, listening, observing, and absorbing people and places. She’s driven back and forth across the country half a dozen times–and she prefers the roads that are winding and indirect and routes that take her through mountains or small towns. She loves meeting strangers, trying new foods, and learning a new region by walking it, running it, working in it, and living in it.
In her free time, you can find Rachael hiking, running, reading, exploring, gardening, foraging, cooking, cross country skiing, or wandering the woods with a notebook, a field guide, and a camera.
Rachael’s essays and poems have appeared in The Rumpus, Painted Bride Quarterly, Pank, Prick of the Spindle, The Collagist, Creative Nonfiction, Museum of Americana, Diagram, Redivider, KNOCK, Ozone Park, and Flyway: Journal of Writing and Environment, among other journals. Her essay “Crossings” was nominated for a Pushcart prize.
Not too fancy,really. Just right!