Animals Strike Curious Poses

Rhinos and mammoths and bears, oh my!

Book cover of Animals Strike Curious Poses

Animals Strike Curious Poses takes you on a journey through the lives and legacies of 16 famous animals in history. From Yuka, the millennia-old mammoth uncovered deep within the permafrost, to Cecil, the beloved lion tragically killed by a recreational hunter in 2015, Passarello not only asks what we can learn about animals, but also asks what imagining and reimagining their lives says about us. Her writing highlights the humor and tragedy in these animals' stories, combining sharp wit with extensive research. She also masterfully plays with form and style, constructing an essay in iambic pentameter, rewriting the missing sections of an 18th-century poem, and telling a famous joke using only the words known by a very smart Gorilla. 

Animals Strike Curious Poses never ceases to surprise and impress, with each essay bringing new facts, new connections, and new ideas to explore.

About the author
Elena Passarello headshot

Elena Passarello is the author of two collections, Let me Clear My Throat (2012), which won the gold medal for nonfiction at the 2013 Independent Publisher Awards and was a finalist for the 2014 Oregon Book Award, and Animals Strike Curious Poses (2017), which was a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice, and made the Best Books of 2017 lists from several publications including the Guardian, Publisher’s Weekly, and the New York Times Book Review. Animals Strike Curious Poses also received the Oregon Book Award for nonfiction and was listed as one of the best essay collections of the decade by Lithub in 2019. 

Passarello currently directs the MFA program at Oregon State University and teaches at the Sewanee Writers Conference, the Kenyon Writers Workshops, Convivio, and Vermont College of Fine Arts. She also co-hosts PRX’s LiveWire, a culture and variety program broadcast across 150 public radio stations across America. 

Why we chose this book

Because Animals Strike Curious Poses is a deeply researched, playful, and engaging collection of essays that, through moving stories and insightful connections, encourages us to reflect on the ways humanity has mythologized, subjugated, and characterized animals throughout history. 

Author at Colgate

Join us in person or via Zoom on Thursday, Oct. 22, for Elena Passarello’s reading and book-signing at 4:30 ET in Persson Auditorium. Refreshments available.

Beyond the Book

  • Passarello’s first collection, Let Me Clear My Throat, won the gold medal for nonfiction at the 2013 Independent Publisher Awards and was a finalist for the 2014 Oregon Book Award.
  • Passarello has an upcoming book on Elvis Presley’s films and his cultural legacy that will be released by Penguin Press in 2026.
  • Here’s a link to LiveWire, the radio show Passarello co-hosts with Luke Burbank that “artfully blends unpredictable conversation, live music, and original comedy featuring all types of cultural talent and creative minds, from emerging artists to established acts.”

Of all the images that make our world, animal images are particularly buried inside us. We feel the pull of them before we know what to name them, or how to even fully see them.

Elena Passarello Animals Strike Curious Poses