What happens when you decide to look up?

Award-winning actress Lili Taylor explores the importance of how we look at the world in this lyrical collection of essays, braiding together stories from birdwatching with musings on life, meaning and the beauty of paying attention.

During a break from her work as an actor, Lili Taylor sought silence and instead found the bustling, symphonic world of birds that had always existed around her and entered the world of birdwatching. Since then, she has kept a keen eye pressed to her binoculars in search of vivid stories that elevate the everyday, if only you look.

Through a series of beautifully crafted essays, Taylor shares her intimate encounters with the birds that have captured her heart and imagination – from tracking flitting Woodpeckers through oak trees to spotting majestic Blue Jays perched on a Manhattan fire escape; from the exhilaration of witnessing a migratory flock from the top of the Empire State Building to the quiet joy of observing a nest of hatchlings in her own backyard. Through simply paying attention to birds, Lili has seen a parallel world that is wider and deeper, one of constant change and movement, full of life and the will to survive.

In Turning to Birds, Taylor encourages mindfulness, inviting you to be present and fully engaged with the world around you. Her beautiful prose and thoughtful meditations on both the art we make and the art we discover around us create a sense of intimacy and wonder, inviting you to see the world through new eyes and to find joy in the most unexpected places.