The riveting tale of two pioneering botanists and their historic boat trip down the Colorado River through Grand Canyon, named a New Yorker Best Book of the Year and a Booklist Top of the List winner in nonfiction. A regional indie bestseller. W.W. Norton, 2023.
A historical sojourn into the story of the Buenaventura, an imaginary river that appeared on maps of the American West for 75 years, paired with an modern-day investigation into the “mythical rivers” that keep us from truly making a home in the arid Southwest. University of Iowa Press, 2016.
The story of an upstart laboratory in Tucson that created the field of planetary science and played a vital role in the America’s quest to put a man on the moon. University of Arizona Press, 2016.
Praise for Brave the Wild River
Melissa Sevigny embroiders the Grand Canyon with plants who become as much characters as the people. She tells a ripping story, full of heart and grit, and a river readers will take in the teeth.
— Craig Childs, author of Atlas of a Lost World
Whip-smart, funny, meticulously researched, and beautifully written … [A] story about what it means to risk everything, and follow your heart into the great unknown.
— Ash Davidson, author of Damnation Spring
Melissa L. Sevigny unfurls one of the finest river stories of the Grand Canyon while presenting a long overdue, richly deserved, and beautifully written tribute to a pair of legendary botanists.
— Kevin Fedarko, author of The Emerald Mile
Melissa L. Sevigny 