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Cara Giaimo

@cjgiaimo

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peppercorn + poppyseed fan account | guitar &c @side.body | "leaving the ocean was a mistake" out now!

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COMING SOON: When Would You Like to Turn Into a Pumpkin?

An interactive work of speculative plant studies
by @cjgiaimo and @lilkilb

at OPEN at 50 Sims in Providence this October

In When Would You Like to Turn Into a Pumpkin?, you are a pumpkin unmoored in space and time. You are in Aotearoa, East Anglia, Napa Valley, and Oaxaca. It is 7153 B.C., 1277, 2116, and 2005. You are a seed, a scent, a blossom, a prizewinner, a Jack O’Lantern, and rot.

We've been waiting 10 years to do this show! We are so pumped. Come transform with us 🌝 by @cjgiaimo

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18 days ago

Hey birdbrains (complimentary),

Next Sunday, I’ll be speaking on Zoom with Adam Nicolson about his book “Bird School: A Beginner in the Wood.” Adam spent a year observing birds from a viewing hut he built on his farm in Sussex.

I’ve learned a lot from this book (did you know that what time a bird starts singing in the morning depends on the size of that bird’s eyes??). And Adam’s writing lingers on the birds, gets them from all angles, and makes you see (and hear) them like new. A blackbird’s song “is like the sound of someone enjoying a lovely dinner, rolling around in his mouth the deliciousness of everything life has given him.” A wren is “alacrity made flesh.” Also he’s very funny and I think we’ll have a great conversation.

Thanks to @bostonbirdfest for putting on this event, and to our event partners the Association of Massachusetts Bird Clubs and @thebrooklinebirdclub . The event is virtual (on Zoom), and is happening on March 1st at 3 PM Eastern. There’s a signup link in my bio. Hope to see you there! by @cjgiaimo

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8 months ago

NEW EPISODE!
Join Ellen & special guest, writer and science journalist Cara Giaimo, for a highlight reel of some of the animal kingdom’s biggest surprises. We discuss Lego trebuchets, the scifi potential of a projectile-based language, endangered relationships, biofluorescence, the great pacific garbage patch’s number 1 fan, and so much more. Check it out wherever you get podcasts! by @cjgiaimo

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a year ago

Happy book birthday to LEAVING THE OCEAN WAS A MISTAKE by Carla Giaimo (@cjgiaimo) and illustrated by Vlad Stankovic (@vladimirsart)! 🐙

Perfect for land dwellers who love nature documentaries, scroll through animal Instagram accounts, and often wonder what the heck is happening in the darkest depths of the sea, LEAVING THE OCEAN WAS A MISTAKE is an informative and funny collection of life advice from sixty bizarre and beautiful marine creatures.

Get to know these friendly denizens of the deep and receive advice—drawn from real-life facts—from Earth's weirdest sea creatures for improving your life on land. Pick up a copy of this gorgeously illustrated and fun handbook wherever you get books! 🦐 by @cjgiaimo

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a year ago

DID YOU KNOW: Lilia and I are artists in residence at @mountauburncemetery this year?

Mount Auburn is really important to us, in all seasons of the year and of life. We’ve been delighted to spend more time with the preservationists, coordinators, amphibians, ephemerals, researchers, bee-searchers, &c&c that make this special place what it is.

For our project, we’re making an experimental nature film. We’ll be talking about it tonight (and showing some high-octane toad and lichen footage) at a virtual panel with our fellow AiRs, @liapikus, @julsgabs and @storytailorpoems.

Come learn along with us! Link is in my bio. taken in Mount Auburn Cemetery by @cjgiaimo

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a year ago

hey! it's me cara. in the next couple weeks i'll be speaking locally about rocks + bugs:

1. this thursday (7/17) i'll be in conversation with @laurapoppick at @harvardbookstore, talking about her wonderful new book STRATA. this book has taught me a lot about the lives of minerals — i have underestimated their penchant for drama — and about things i thought i knew already, like how we got so much oxygen and what mud is. come rock with us 🪨 (fabric swatch book styling by @lilkilb)

2. next wednesday (7/23) at the MOTH BALL in kingsley park at fresh pond, i'll be speaking and selling books. there will also be more speakers, a costume component, photography, and of course mothing. featuring @bostonbirdfest @earthwise_aware @cambridgewildlifearts @nativeplantcommunitygardeners @biodiversitybuilders2025 and many more. all ages lots of fun lots of moths!! 🐛

contemplating the resiliency and fragility of our planet... from flickering insects to enduring layers of stone... that's summertime fun... and i hope you will join me 🌞 taken in Hard Rock Cafe Las Vegas Strip by @cjgiaimo

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a year ago

Join us at SPACE on Earth Day for a special panel celebrating new books by environmental writers Cara Giaimo and Brandon Keim, moderated by science journalist Laura Poppick and spun into a rock show by Boston-based art-pop band sidebody!

Part field guide, part travelogue, part cabinet of curiosities, Cara Giaimo (and Joshua Foer’s) Atlas Obscura: Wild Life is the definitive traveler’s guide to the world’s most fascinating, unusual, and least-understood flora and fauna.

Brandon Keim is a science journalist specializing in nature and animals. His latest book, Meet the Neighbors: Animal Minds and Life in a More-Than-Human World, is about animal personhood and our relationships to wild animals and to nature.

Laura Poppick is a Portland-based science and environmental journalist. Her debut book, Strata: Stories from Deep Time is coming out July 2025.

sidebody is Hava Horowitz, Lena Warnke, Martha Schnee and Cara Giaimo. They are known for their electric high-energy performances, four part harmonies, and unique DIY pop-art-rock sound, and have been compared to Talking Heads, the B-52s, and The Raincoats. sidebody released their first record, sidebody, in August 2022. Their second record, full time job, was released in May 2024. They are slated to play Boston Calling music festival in May 2025.

April 22 • Tue 7 pm, doors at 6:30
Space On Earth: Panel & Performance with @cjgiaimo, @brandon9keim, @laurapoppick and @side.body
$7 adv, $10 day of • $2 off for SPACE members
Co-presented by @print.bookstore and @maine_coast_heritage_trust

#portlandmaine taken in SPACE by @cjgiaimo

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2 years ago

everybody loves puerto rico and everybody loves @coral.sb y steve. thank you for having us ❤️🤍💙🇵🇷🤿👯‍♀️🐠🦎🐦‍⬛ taken in Guánica, Puerto Rico by @cjgiaimo

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2 years ago

hey! i'm leading two trips to the Galapagos this year with Atlas Obscura (@atlasobscura). one in June, one in December. going to be great + worth every penny even though i know it's a lot of pennies. here are some guys i met on my last trip there in 2018. cutoff date for June trip signups is March 14. any questions just holler 🐢 by @cjgiaimo

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2 years ago

THEY CALLED 🥹📞🤯☎️😲🥹🫡🥴🤠🐣😵👔👼🏻🪩🌟🌟☎️☎️

tix on sale jan 8 — presale @ 10am, public sale @ noon! taken in Harvard University Athletic Complex by @cjgiaimo

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2 years ago

last in person @atlasobscura book event of the year - i will be at Portland Book Festival @literaryarts chatting with @mushroomcoloratlas 🍄, Elena Passarello 🫎, and Hans the Eurasian eagle-owl 🦉 (@cascadesraptorcenter). tomorrow at 10 AM at @portland_5 Winningstad Theater. big thanks to @amandawaldroupe + @artswatch for the great article, my dad for always thinking about my search word optimization, and @dunkin for continually evolving the spider donut 🕷️ taken in Portland'5 Centers for the Arts by @cjgiaimo

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2 years ago

west coasters — me and my increasingly ragged tour copy of AO: Wild Life are in your area! join me for some events ...

- SAN FRANCISCO, CA: Monday, October 21st (today!), 7 pm, at @jccsf - with @oaklandzoo 's Amy Gotliffe and @kalwradio 's @howwildpodcast , part of San Francisco @litquake 🍀

- SANTA CRUZ, CA: Tuesday, October 22nd (tomorrow!), 7 pm, at @londonnelsoncenter , with @montereybayaquarium 's Emily Simpson, brought to you by @bookshopsc 🦑

- PORTLAND, OR: Saturday, November 2nd, 10 am, at @portland_5 Winningstad Theatre, with @unidola , @elenavox , and a Eurasian eagle-owl from @cascadesraptorcenter , part of @literaryarts Portland Book Festival 🦉

thank you to @atlasobscura @workmanpub for sending me on this journey... to Kumataro Ito for drawing these beautiful sea slugs in 1908... and to you for leaving area beach, bird, and food recs in the comments 😽🤘🐡 by @cjgiaimo

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2 years ago