Winner of the Sarabande Prize in the Essay, judged by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, dovetailing is a collection of personal essays about birds and mental illness. Beginning with a mental breakdown, the book follows my efforts to learn to bird alongside my mother, using birds as both parallel and counterpoint to my experiences with anxiety and depression. Each essay centers on a particular species, from red-winged blackbirds and wood storks to whooping cranes and Moluccan cockatoos, braiding personal narrative with research on birds, disability, and mental illness.

Resisting the idea that nature can cure, or that illness itself should be organized around the promise of cure, dovetailing explores how birdwatching and forms of feminine care can help ground a life shaped by mental illness. The book’s form reflects that experience, using techniques such as fragmentation and braiding to capture the nonlinear experience of mental illness.