Author amy tan finds solace in nature journaling | members only access

Amy Tan, 72, found literary fame in 1989 with the publication of her first novel, _The Joy Luck Club_, an absorbing bestseller centered on a group of Chinese immigrant mothers and daughters

in San Francisco. The story later became a film that she cowrote and coproduced. Tan — who, like some of her characters, is a Bay Area-raised daughter of Chinese immigrants — went on to

write other acclaimed novels, including _The Kitchen God’s Wife_ and _The Hundred Secret Senses_. Now she’s turned to birds. Her new book, _The Backyard Bird Chronicles_, out April 23, is

similar to an old-fashioned nature journal, with written descriptions and drawings documenting the birds behind her home near San Francisco, where she lives with her husband, Lou DeMattei, a

retired tax attorney. Tan shares with AARP how the birding book came to be, how her life perspective has changed with age, and how she’s always game to learn something new. _This interview

has been edited for length and clarity._ What brought you out to your backyard? “The Backyard Bird Chronicles” is a witty account of birding, nature and the beauty around us that hides in

plain sight. Enmei Tan Around the time of the campaigns for the [2016] presidential election, there was a lot of racism that came out, and it was just so open — it was so ugly, all the

divisiveness and the hatred, and I felt it personally. I just had to go somewhere to find some peace in my mind, to find something beautiful, and decided that the way that I could do that

was to go nature journaling. It required me to focus my attention toward what was so wonderful about nature. Did you begin the journal with publication in mind? I didn’t know it would become

a book. I was just doing something I loved, and my editor said, “How would you feel if we published your journal?” And I told him that it’s not really a book — it’s a lot of scribbles and

notes that I’ve made, and it’s all disorganized. But he asked for about 20 pages, which he presented to the publishing house, and they said, “Yeah, we’ll publish that.” You’re a dog lover as

well. Do your dogs scare away the birds? I have a Yorkshire Terrier, Felix, who’s just four pounds, and a rescue dog, Tux, who’s now around 19 years old and can’t see or hear. But when [my

goddaughter’s little dog, Bobo, who lives next door] comes over, the birds slowly rise up and fly to the top of the fence. Then they just look at him, and after a while they come down

again. They’re not threatened by him at all. They know he can’t fly.