Priyanka Kumar is an author, filmmaker, and essayist whose work explores the natural world, identity, and the human connection to place. She is the author of *Conversations with Birds* and *The Light Between Apple Trees*, and her essays have appeared in *The New York Times*, *The Washington Post*, *Los Angeles Review of Books*, *Orion*, and *Sierra Magazine*. Holding an MFA, she has taught at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the University of Southern California. Her feature documentary *The Song of the Little Road* is preserved in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ permanent collection. Kumar’s honors include the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Award, a New Mexico/New Visions Governor’s Award, an International Center for Jefferson Studies Fellowship, and an Academy Fellowship.