NONFICTION | AVAILABLE MARCH 2026
The Once and Future Lake: Stories for Great Salt Lake
edited by MICHAEL MCLANE
foreword by TERRY TEMPEST WILLIAMS
"A moving tribute."
—ANNE HOLMAN, The King's English Bookshop
For thousands of years, Great Salt Lake has played a surprisingly central role in the lives of humans and animals throughout the American West and across entire continents. Once a destination for wellness seekers, the lake’s alarming disappearance is already affecting skiing, tourism, and the region’s economic future. As humans continue to divert its waters for agriculture and mine its marshlands for industry, Great Salt Lake could vanish entirely within five years. A refuge for more than 330 species of migrating birds, the lake also keeps vast swathes of the western United States habitable by keeping naturally occurring arsenic, toxic dust, and other health hazards trapped safely in the earth.
The Once and Future Lake brings together nature writers, scientists, and storytellers to reveal the beauty of this complex ecosystem and to proclaim a future where Great Salt Lake will once again thrive—as long as we act before it’s too late. Through essay, story, and poetry, these writers show how intertwined the lake’s fate is with our own and that restoring and rewilding Great Salt Lake is possible, practical, ambitious, and essential.
March 2026 | Nonfiction | 9798890920096 | $23.95
CONTRIBUTORS
Terry Tempest Williams | Michael McLane | Holly Simonsen | Lynn de Freitas | Rob Carney | Nan Seymour | Katharine Coles | Sarah May | Teri Harman Rachel White | Ayja Bounous | Star Coulbrooke | Adam O. Davis
Danielle Beazer Dubrasky | Sarah May | Claire Wahmanholm | Willy Palomo
Joel Long | Natalie Young | Nicole Walker | Alex Caldiero | Charles Waugh | Sarah L. Fox | Justin Evans | Andy Hoffmann | Rob Carney | Eli McCann | Kylan Rice | Brooke Williams | Scott Morris | Alyssa Quinn | Paisley Rekdal
Darren Parry | Madi Sudweeks | Dayna Patterson | Sylvia Torti | Muskan Walia
Willy Palomo | Karin Anderson | Hanna Saltzman | Lisa Bickmore
ABOUT THE EDITOR
MICHAEL MCLANE is the author of the chapbooks Fume and Trace Elements. He is a founding editor of the journal saltfront, the review editor for Sugar House Review and a poetry editor for Dark Mountain. His work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Western Humanities Review, Colorado Review, Laurel Review, Interim, Utah Historical Quarterly, and South Dakota Review. He currently lives in rural New Zealand and recently earned a PhD from Victoria University's International Institute of Modern Letters. McLane is from Salt Lake City, Utah, and lives in New Zealand.
PRAISE FOR THE ONCE AND FUTURE LAKE
“A moving tribute. The soul of our state and its beating heart is Great Salt Lake. Gathered here are some of the voices who have known and loved the lake through generations and others who are meeting the lake for the first time. If you haven't spent time there, read this book and then GO! Or better yet, take this book with you and read it while you look for snowy plover and Wilson Phalarope.”
—ANNE HOLMAN, The King’s English Bookshop
​
“A thoughtfully compiled collection. It is something bigger, deeper, and wilder than could be imagined—a collective story tinged delicately by hope that may only be realized in its being shared.”
—NOAH BASKETT, Salt Lake City Public Library
​
“The Great Salt Lake is one of the strangest, most wondrous, and mysterious places on the planet. It has been revered and abused. Its immensity often obliterates attempts to capture it in text or in art; words can be woefully inadequate in the face of its sublimity. And yet, this poignant and heartfelt collection of essays and poems brings the Great Salt Lake to life for its readers.”
—JONATHAN P. THOMPSON, Sagebrush Empire
​
"A buoyant collection and a pressing call-to-action. Like the rivers of the Great Basin, these essays, poems, and stories pour past city lawns and alfalfa fields toward the unassuming Great Salt Lake, begging us to see its beauty and recognize its many inhabitants—before it's too late."
—ZAK PODMORE, Life After Dead Pool
​
“Contributors to The Once and Future Lake invite us to their beloved lake so we can all envision a healthier future for her—and for the rest of the more-than-human world, too.”
—LAURA PASKUS, editor of Water Bodies
​
"The Once and Future Lake is a demonstration of love for Great Salt Lake. Read it to learn and be inspired. Read it for solace and hope. Read it to find the connections between us and the lake."
—DEEDA SEED, Senior Utah Campaigner, Center for Biological Diversity
