Dr. Paul Brooke’s writing has been featured in such journals as the North American Review, The Antioch Review, Rocky Mountain Review, Scientific American, International Poetry Review, Isotope: A Journal of Literary Nature and Science Writing, and the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature and the Environment.

His long poem, “The Skald and the Drukkin Tröllaukin,” an interconnected series of Norse form poems, was selected second place and included in the 64 Best Poets of 2018.  His work has won numerous awards including The Iowa Prize for Poetry, two nominations for the Pushcart Prize, an Iowa Artist Fellowship (2021), and a finalist selection for The Proverse International Poetry Prize (Hong Kong).

Light and Matter: Photographs and Poems of Iowa, his first full-length collection, was published by Campbell & Lewis Publishers in 2008. Meditations on Egrets: Photographs and Poems of Sanibel Island was published 2010 and Sirens and Seriemas: Photographs and Poems of the Amazon and Brazil was published in 2015 by Brambleby Books. Arm Wrestling at the Iowa State Fair was released by Finishing Line Press in 2018. His newest book, The Skald and the Drukkin Tröllaukin, was published by Gold Wake Press in March 2022.

Several of his images have been shortlisted for the Bird Photographer of the Year. One of his photographs (Yacare Caiman with Sailfin Catfish) was a finalist for Wildlife Photographer of the Year in 2020. His photographs have appeared in Audubon and Wild Planet magazines. He has hung eight different photography exhibits across North America. Brooke currently serves as Chair of the Awards Committee for the North American Nature Photographers Association, as a Managing Editor for Gold Wake Press, and as an Acquisitions and Developmental Editor at Atmosphere Press.

About the Author….

Dr. Paul Brooke is a Professor of English at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, where he teaches Advanced Creative Writing, Environmental Literature, Creative Photography, Poetry Writing, Introduction to Nonfiction, Editing and Digital Publishing,  Contemporary Literature, Diverse Voices, Novel Writing, Major Authors, and Literary Theory.  

Early in his career, Brooke worked as a biologist and naturalist in Alaska, Minnesota and Washington State. And during his latest sabbatical, he teamed up with Paul Donahue and they finished work on Jaguars of the Northern Pantanal: Panthera onca at the Meeting of the Waters, a scientific book focusing on jaguar behavior and conservation that features images from 32 international photographers and collaboration with Panthera, the wild cat conservation group. The 350-page book was released by Academic Press (Elsevier) in 2020. It includes portraits of six of the most famous jaguars and a trove of information and maps. Jaguars of the Northern Pantanal works to uncover the intricate lives of these misunderstood animals by decoding their behaviors.