Jean Zimmerman, author of critically praised nonfiction and fiction, returns to Catwalk for a fifth time to continue work on a historical novel, Summoning Jane, rooted in her fascination with America’s first female botanist and badass-before-her-time Jane Colden. During her residency, she will conduct research and imagine Colden’s life at the Hudson Valley ruin of Coldengham, her family’s Revolutionary-era estate in nearby Montgomery. Zimmerman’s forthcoming memoir Of Heartwood and Woundwood: An Unlikely Arborist’s Path to Courage and Joy (Broadleaf, Fall 2026), invites readers into a world where trees become teachers, healers, and companions amid life’s most daunting challenges.

Affiliation: Columbia