Tombolo Books welcomes local Environmental Studies Professor Hilary Flower to the bookstore to celebrate her latest ecological study, The Kite and the Snail! Flower will be in conversation with local author Craig Pittman!

More about The Kite and the Snail

The Kite and the Snail is a tale of survival, adaptation, and change focused on the Everglade Snail Kite. Traditionally reliant on the native Florida Apple Snail, itself a threatened species, the Snail Kite shocked scientists by quadrupling its population over the past few decades rather than hurtling towards extinction.

Hilary Flower traces the unusual path that has allowed the Snail Kite to thrive in the face of overwhelming odds and asks how its story can help us approach conservation in a way which is more dynamic, flexible, and adaptation-focused.

Hilary Flower is professor of environmental studies at Eckerd College, where she teaches about wetlands and global environmental change and researches how climate change and sea level rise affect the Everglades.

Craig Pittman is a native Floridian and an award-winning journalist. He wrote for the Tampa Bay Times for 30 years and now writes for the Florida Phoenix. He is the author of several books, including the New York Times bestseller Oh, Florida! How America’s Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country; The State You’re In: Florida Men, Florida Women, and Other Wildlife; and The Scent of Scandal: Greed, Betrayal, and the World’s Most Beautiful Orchid. He is cohost of the Welcome to Florida podcast. Pittman was named a Florida Literary Legend by the Florida Heritage Book Festival in 2020.