Michael Pollan, Writer (December, 2026)
This winter, we will welcome writer Michael Pollan to The Merwin Conservancy for a residency. During his time in residence, he will connect with our community through a Green Room program on Maui on December 10th and through a podcast episode with Hawaiʻi Public Radio. Tickets for those events will go live later this month.
For more than thirty years, Michael Pollan has been writing books and articles about the places where the human and natural worlds intersect: on our plates, in our farms and gardens, and in our minds. His most recent book, A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness, was published in 2026. He is the author of nine other books, including This is Your Mind on Plants (2021), How to Change Your Mind (2018), Cooked (2013), Food Rules (2009), In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto (2008), The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (2006), and The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World (2001), all of which have been New York Times bestsellers; three of them were immediate #1 New York Times bestsellers. The Omnivore’s Dilemma was named one of the ten best books of 2006 by both the New York Times and the Washington Post. It also won the California Book Award, the Northern California Book Award, the James Beard Award for best food writing, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. A revised, young readers’ edition of The Omnivore’s Dilemma was published in 2015. Pollan’s 2001 book, The Botany of Desire, also a New York Times bestseller, was recognized as a best book of the year by the American Booksellers Association and Amazon.com. Pollan is also the author of A Place of My Own (1997) and Second Nature (1991). An expanded edition of Food Rules, with original illustrations by Maira Kalman, was published in 2011. How to Change Your Mind was named one of the New York Times‘ 10 Best Books of 2018. In 2020, Pollan published a new audio book titled Caffeine, available from Audible. This is Your Mind on Plants was a 2021 Washington Post notable book and one of NPR’s best books of the year. In 2026, A World Appears was named one of six finalists for the Kirkus Prize.
Mahalo to Maggie & David Cole and the Laila Twigg-Smith Art Fund for generously supporting Michael Pollan’s residency.
