Melissa L. Sevigny grew up in Tucson, Arizona where she fell in love with the Sonoran Desert’s ecology, geology and dark desert skies. Her lyrical nonfiction explores the intersections of science, nature, and history, with a focus on the American Southwest.
Sevigny is the author of three books, most recently Brave the Wild River (W.W. Norton, 2023), winner of the National Outdoor Book Award for history/biography and featured in The New York Times and People magazine. She also wrote Mythical River (University of Iowa Press, 2016) and Under Desert Skies (University of Arizona Press, 2016). Her writing has appeared in Orion, High Country News, The Atavist Magazine, River Teeth, City Creatures, Terrain.org, Fourth Genre, Flyway, and elsewhere.
Her work has been supported by grants from the Ellen Meloy Fund for Desert Writers and the Arizona Commission on the Arts, and honored with numerous awards. She’s currently the science reporter at KNAU (Arizona Public Radio) in Flagstaff, Arizona. Her radio stories have aired nationally on NPR, been featured on Science Friday, and received regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for excellence.
Sevigny has worked as a science communicator in the fields of planetary science, western water policy, and sustainable agriculture. She worked for NASA’s Phoenix Mars Scout Mission during its ground operations on Mars in 2008. She earned a B.S. in Environmental Science & Policy from the University of Arizona and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Environment from Iowa State University. She volunteers as the interviews editor for Terrain.org and is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
Follow her on Twitter: @MelissaSevigny and Bluesky: @melissasevigny.bsky.social
Grants & Awards
2024 Viola Award for Excellence in Storytelling by Creative Flagstaff for Brave the Wild River
2024 Southwest Book of the Year top pick, Brave the Wild River
2023 National Outdoor Book Award for History/Biography for Brave the Wild River
2023 The Copper Quill Award from the Flagstaff City-Coconino County Public Library
2023 Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Innovation, Region 3 Small Market Radio, for NASA sets its sights on the moon from training grounds in northern Arizona
2023 Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Writing, Region 3 Small Market Radio, for Apache elders fight to save the vanishing Emory oak
2022 Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Writing and Sports Reporting, Region 3 Small Market Radio, for Lees Ferry Program Offers Cash To Anglers For Brown Trout Removal
2020 Gold Prize for adventure travel writing in the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition, hosted by the Society for American Travel Writers, for “The Wild Ones” in The Atavist Magazine
2019 Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Writing, Region 3 Small Market Radio, for Can Beer Help Save the Verde River?
2017 John Burroughs Association names Mythical River a “Nature Book of Uncommon Merit” and medal finalist
2017 Viola Award nomination by the Flagstaff Arts Council for Mythical River
2017 Edward R. Murrow Award for Sports Reporting, Region 3 Small Market Radio, for The Benefits of Boxing for People with Parkinson’s
2017 Artist Research and Development Grant and the Bill Desmond Writing Award given by the Arizona Commission on the Arts
2016 Southwest Books of the Year top pick, Mythical River
2016 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards finalist, Under Desert Skies
2015 First Place for Environmental/Science Reporting, awarded by the Arizona Press Club for “A River’s Return” in Edible Baja Arizona
2015 Ellen Meloy Grant for Desert Writers awarded for work on Mythical River
Melissa L. Sevigny 