Environmental Writer ~ Editor ~ Advocate
Shannon Kelly Donahue is an environmental writer, advocate, and copyeditor living on the Chilkat Peninsula of Southeast Alaska, just south of Deishú (Haines), on Jilkáat Aani.
She specializes in science communication, wildlife
conservation, clean water protection, environmental policy analysis, and creative nonfiction.
Shannon's greatest joy is sharing habitat with bears. She has devoted much of her life and work to marveling at, learning from, and working to protect bears and their habitats. While most of her year is spent among black and brown (grizzly) bears in the coastal Alaskan rainforest, she migrates to Hudson Bay each fall to teach polar bear ecology field courses in Churchill just as the sea ice forms.
Shannon's other interests include traditional music, folklore, oral history, and endangered languages. She plays Irish traditional music on a vintage anglo concertina. Shannon actively studies Gaeilge (Irish) and has done coursework in Lingít and Cymraeg (Welsh).
Shannon has a B.A. in Creative Writing and a M.S. in Environmental Studies with a focus in wildlife conservation, both from the University of Montana. She completed coursework in History and Literature at National University of Ireland, Galway (now University of Galway).
Shannon has a certificate in copyediting from Poynter Institute/ACES and additional coursework from the University of California, Berkeley Extension. She has a certificate in Climate Change Communication from the Cornell Civic Ecology Lab.
Shannon regularly pursues continuing education in environmental justice, decolonization, media and communications best practices, copyediting, and cultural sensitivity.
Shannon has worked in nonprofit
leadership and community organizing since 2007. She is grateful to have spent over 20 years in Alaska and sees her work as her way of giving
back to the land and waters that nourish her.
A fourth generation labor organizer, Shannon is a founding member of SEACC United, the first labor union of environmental advocacy workers in Alaska.
Shannon freelances in writing, editing, environmental justice, policy analysis, and nonprofit consulting.
Shannon is a member of the Northwest Editors Guild, Editorial Freelancers Association, and ACES: The Society for Editing.
“The grizzly is a symbol of what is right with the world.” — Charles Jonkel
