• Coelodonta_antiquitatis_by_Benjamin_Langlois

    Duet, PRISM International

    by Isaac Yuen

    I’m happy to have a new piece of short fiction titled “Duet”, out in the “Swan Song”-themed issue of PRISM International, Western Canada’s oldest literary magazine. The original spark for the story came during my time as writer-in-residence at the Hanse-Wissenshaftskolleg Institute for Advanced Study in Northern Germany, where I stumbled across an article of a paleontologist who spoke to the specimens she was...

    October 24, 2025
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    Fiction, Publication, Short Stories
  • Many buffalos in Hürmetçi Wetlands

    The E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, A Conversation

    by Isaac Yuen

    It’s back-to-school season again, and perhaps the perfect time to share this conversation I had with Dennis Liu, VP of Education at the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation on how curiosity, creativity, and the exploration of science can help shape our individual and collective engagement with the natural world. A bit about the Foundation: The E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation was established in 2005 to honor Dr. Edward...

    September 4, 2025
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    Personal
  • Kôji Yakusho in Perfect Day

    Tales of the Post-Post-Apocalyptic, Public Books

    by Isaac Yuen

    I’m happy to have contributed a new essay to the “No Future Lexicon” series commissioned over at Public Books, “a magazine of ideas, art, and scholarship,” with Matthew Wolf-Meyer as series editor. The initial genesis of this collaboration came from a study group convened by Annette Leibing and Mark Schweda at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg (HWK) Institute for Advanced Study over in Northern Germany, where I...

    July 22, 2025
    Comments 2
    Publication
  • Utter, Earth Images by Julian Montague

    Utter, Earth Turns One! An Interview at The Burning Hearth

    by Isaac Yuen

    On the first anniversary of Utter, Earth’s publication, I had the pleasure of chatting with writer and interviewer Constance Malloy over at The Burning Hearth. Here’s an excerpt from one of our many conversation threads: “…I think our present preoccupation should be one of defiant endurance. To hold fast. To defy the narratives imposed upon us, and insist on narratives of our own forging,...

    April 1, 2025
    Comments 2
    Entries, Publication
  • Burning Fire

    Becoming Nature Podcast: Episode Fire

    by Isaac Yuen

    I’m excited to share this latest conversation I had with Carina Lyall and Rina Garcia Chua over at Becoming Nature, a podcast hosted by Lyall reflecting on “nature and the unfolding of life in the modern world.” This particular episode revolving around the element of fire is the first in a series in collaboration with The Center for Humans and Nature, highlighting the recently...

    March 28, 2025
    Comment 1
    Entries
  • Ekostories Salamander Duo

    The Art of Resistance From The Non-Human World

    by Isaac Yuen

    “Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art—the art of words.” National Book Awards speech excerpt, © 2014 Ursula K. Le Guin I’ve been thinking about the whole speech of late, especially the last line. I’ve been thinking about how words alone have been failing me and so many others...

    March 6, 2025
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    Art, Personal
  • Baltic Sea Algal Blooms

    The Sturgeon’s Dream: A Libretto on the Baltic Sea

    by Isaac Yuen

    Excited to have a new work, this time a libretto, featured over at the always excellent Center for Humans and Nature. “The Sturgeon’s Dream” is a translated German libretto I co-authored with my partner Michaela Vieser; the five-act piece seeks to highlight the life and history of the Baltic sea through a series of human and non-human voices. Spanning geologic, seasonal, and cultural time,...

    May 17, 2024
    Comment 1
    Fiction, Publication
  • carview.php?tsp=

    Imaginary Worlds Podcast: Miyazaki Imagines an Environment

    by Isaac Yuen

      Happy to have had an opportunity to chat about the fantastical worlds of Hayao Miyazaki on Imaginary Worlds, a podcast series hosted by Eric Molinsky on science fiction, fantasy, and other genres of speculative fiction: “Environmental stewardship has been a consistent theme throughout his work, from My Neighbor Totoro to Spirited Away to Princess Mononoke. But what exactly has he been saying all...

    April 27, 2023
    Comments 2
    Personal
  • Isla San Francisquito

    The Willowherb Review: El Lugar de Los Sueños

    by Isaac Yuen

    I’m pleased to have a new essay out in the latest issue of The Willowherb Review, a publication celebrating nature writing from emerging and established writers of colour: “Why ‘Willowherb’? Chamaenerion angustifolium, commonly known as rosebay willowherb or fireweed, is a plant that thrives on disturbed ground. Its seeds do well when transported to new and difficult terrain, so some—not us—may call it a weed.” ...

    August 26, 2020
    Comments 2
    Non-fiction, Publication
  • Lammergeir by Lip Kee

    Lammergeier, Journeys to Earthsea

    by Isaac Yuen

    Thrilled that my newest personal essay has found a home in the debut issue of Lammergeier, a literary publication named after one of the coolest birds around: “Lammergeier, as with so many artistic visions, starts with a bird. Lammergeiers eat almost exclusively bones. Using its large, powerful wings, the lammergeier drops bones from the great heights to crack them open and access the marrow...

    March 15, 2019
    Comments 0
    Non-fiction, Publication