Jennifer Ackerman is the author of seven books, including What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds, a 2023 New York Times Notable Book and bestseller. Her book The Genius of Birds was also a New York Times bestseller and has been published in 30 languages. The Bird Way was a finalist for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award.
Jennifer’s essays and articles have appeared in The New York Times, National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, and many other publications. She is the recipient of a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts and the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College (now the Radcliffe Institute).
At MacDowell, Ackerman drafted a chapter on female birdsong for her new book about the revolutionary new science of female birds. The book will be published by Penguin Press in 2027 and she received a 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship for her work on the book.
