Candace Savage was nearly born in the cab of a pickup truck, somewhere in the middle of the prairies. So perhaps it is not entirely surprising that she has always had a taste for off-the-map destinations and wild landscapes. Even so, it is hard to explain why the Cypress Hills of southwestern Saskatchewan have held her spellbound for so long, or why she and her partner decided to purchase a house in a town they’d scarcely heard of before. Who would have guessed that this lonely, tumbled land would have so many stories to tell? Who would have guessed that the prairie could be such an unsparing teacher?

Savage was raised in a succession of small towns, mostly in Alberta, and educated there and at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Following graduation, she became a kind of intellectual gadabout, following her curiosity wherever it took her. To date, this need-to-know attitude has led to the publication of dozens of books and essays on the widest possible range of subjects, from the cosmic science of the aurora to the inner workings of a beehive. Several of her works have been translated into multiple languages, and many have garnered awards and praise. In 2010, Savage was inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, in recognition of her scholarly and artistic achievements.

A Geography of Blood serves as an unexpected sequel to Savage’s master work, Prairie: A Natural History, which was published in 2005 and reissued, in a revised and updated edition, in 2011. A devoted grass-hugger, Savage is the co-sponsor of a private grassland restoration project and also sits on the Saskatchewan board of the Nature Conservancy of Canada. She and her partner, art historian Keith Bell, split their time between Saskatoon and Eastend, SK, always in the company of too many pets.

See more at Candace's website.