Vermont author Ethan Tapper’s bestselling book "How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World" has been named winner of the New England Book Award in nonfiction by the Northeast Independent Booksellers Association.
The book, published by Broadleaf Books, is a tender, poetic and pragmatic reimagining of forests and other ecosystems and what it means to care for them. It asks: What does it mean to love a forest? How do we respond to the harmful legacies of the past? How do we use our species' incredible power to heal rather than to harm? And how do we reach toward a better future?
Since the book's release, Tapper has given more than 150 talks and readings across North America. He has also built a substantial social media following across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok (all using the handle @HowToLoveAForest), with hundreds of thousands of followers and videos that reach millions of people each month.
Tapper works, writes, birds and runs a small consulting forestry business from his home at Bear Island, his 175-acre working forest, homestead, orchard and sugarbush in Vermont.