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How Writer Amy Tan Fell in Love with Birds
A search for peace leads to a deep love for birds.
© Amy Tan
Amy Tan is a world-renowned writer of fiction and non-fiction. She’s best-known for her 1989 novel, The Joy Luck Club, which was later adapted into a movie. Her latest book, The Backyard Bird Chronicles, is a collection of essays and illustrations she made about the birds in her own backyard. In this episode of BirdNote Daily, Tan shares why she started nature journaling and talks about her deep love of birds.
BirdNote®
How Writer Amy Tan Fell in Love with Birds
Written by Jonese Franklin
Jonese Franklin: This is BirdNote.
When writer Amy Tan started journaling about nature, she wasn’t trying to write another bestseller. It was 2016, and she was searching for an escape from the overt racism she felt was being directed toward her and other Asian Americans.
Amy Tan: That was never meant to be anything more than a place for me to put my questions down and my observations. It wasn't until my editor said we should publish it that it became a book.
Jonese Franklin: As she spent more time in nature, she started to fall in love with birds.
Amy Tan: The type of love I feel for them is so special because I don't experience it with any human being or other wildlife. And it's the very fact that it is wild and it doesn't fly off in my presence and they look at me and continue to do what they're doing. And it's a feeling of acceptance.
Jonese Franklin: Since publishing her Backyard Bird Chronicles, which is a New York Times bestseller by the way, Amy says people come up to her and tell her stories about their backyard birds.
Amy Tan: I'm heartened also because once people love birds, I think they're much more interested in saving birds. So that makes me feel really, really good to know how many people love birds.
Jonese Franklin: For BirdNote, I’m Jonese Franklin.
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Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recorded by TK
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2025 BirdNote January 2025
Narrator: Jonese Franklin
ID# TanA-01-2025-01-01 TanA-01
