Texas Book Festival Featured Author: Krista Schlyer, author of Continental Divide

Krista Schlyer, a writer and photographer based in Washington, DC, has undergone an investigation into the places most people would not want to travel. Her work has appeared in National Parks, Defenders, High Country News, Ranger Rick, National Geographic News, Audubon, and Outdoor Photographer. She is a member of the International League of Conservation Photographers and the North American Nature Photographers Association. She traveled around the areas surrounding the US-Mexico border, photographing, documenting, and recording the teeming wildlife around it. Schlyer presents a twist about the long debated conflict over the Border Wall. She presents a new perspective on an old topic—her concerns for the delicate ecology and wildlife surrounding the wall.

TAMUP: What or who inspired you to write your book?

KS: My greatest inspiration for Continental Divide was the wildlife of the US-Mexico borderlands. Having studied and photographed hundreds of these wild creatures over the past five years, and knowing the impact border policy and the border wall were having on their future survival, I couldn't not write this book. Species like the American bison, black-tailed prairie dog, kit fox, jaguar and many others continue to be my main motivation for working to raise awareness about the plight of borderlands ecosystems. I dedicated the book to the transboundary bison herd in New Mexico/Chihuahua, but also to the thousands of migrants who have been lost during their borderlands travels, and to US Rep. Raul Grijalva, who has been the one consistent voice in the US Congress fighting to return the force of environmental and other laws to the borderlands region.

TAMUP: What are you looking forward to most about being one of the 200+ authors featured at the Texas Book Festival?

KS: I'm looking forward to everything at the Texas Book Festival! It is a great honor being invited to participate. But specifically, I'm looking forward to sharing Continental Divide with book lovers; to learning about all of the other works written by the amazing list of authors invited to the festival; and to visiting with the folks at Texas A&M Press who will be there that weekend.