Elizabeth Kolbert was born on July 6, 1961. She is an American author and journalist. Since 1999, she has worked as a writer for The New Yorker, where she has written about politics and the environment.

She has written six books, including The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, which was a bestseller and won a Pulitzer Prize, and Under a White Sky, which was listed as one of The Washington Post's ten best books of 2021.

Kolbert has won the National Magazine Award twice. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her writing has been published in The Best American Science and Nature Writing and The Best American Essays. From 2017 to 2020, she was a member of the Science and Security Board for The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Kolbert has traveled to many places around the world to visit scientists and researchers. She has studied global warming and climate change in locations such as Alaska, Hawaii, Greenland, Australia, and Iceland. Her work focuses on scientific discoveries and how human activities affect the planet.

Early life

Kolbert grew up in the Bronx during her early childhood. Her family later moved to Larchmont, where she lived until 1979.

Kolbert’s grandfather was a refugee from Nazi Germany. He always enjoyed reading the works of author Karl May, especially those about the West. After he moved to the United States, he often took Kolbert’s mother and her siblings on trips to the West. Kolbert’s mother continued this tradition by taking her children on similar journeys. Kolbert said, “I thought I, too, should go have adventures out West.”

Kolbert’s father was an eye doctor, and her mother, Marlene Kolbert, was a stay-at-home mom. She remained active in her community by serving on the school board and participating in local politics.

After graduating from Mamaroneck High School, Kolbert studied literature for four years at Yale University. In 1983, she received a Fulbright Scholarship to study at Universität Hamburg in Germany. Her brother, [1] of Portland, Maine, is a well-known builder and author.

Career

Elizabeth Kolbert began working for The New York Times as a freelance writer in Germany in 1983. She had previously written for her high school and college newspapers and was interested in journalism. Her work appeared in the travel section of The New York Times. Later, she returned to the United States and took a basic job at the newspaper. In 1985, she worked on the Metro desk, which covers local news. Kolbert was the head of the Albany office for The New York Times from 1988 to 1991. She also wrote the "Metro Matters" column from 1997 to 1998. She wrote several profiles in The New York Times magazine about people such as former Governor Mario M. Cuomo and former U.S. Senator Alfonse D’Amato.

Since 1999, Kolbert has been a staff writer for The New Yorker. In her early years there, she wrote a column about New York politics called “Around City Hall.” Her writing from this time was published in a book titled The Prophet of Love: And Other Tales of Power and Deceit in 2004. While working at The New Yorker, she wrote profiles about Hillary Clinton, Rudolph Giuliani, and Michael Bloomberg.

In 2005, Kolbert wrote a three-part series in The New Yorker about climate change. The series, titled “The Climate of Man,” won a National Magazine Award for Public Interest. It later became the basis for her book Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change, which was published in 2006.

Kolbert edited The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2009. In 2014, she wrote a book titled The Sixth Extinction, which explained the idea of a human-caused mass extinction to a general audience. The New York Times named it one of the ten best books of the year, and it won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Her 2021 book, Under a White Sky, discussed the challenges of using technology to control nature. In 2024, she published an alphabet book about climate change called H is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z, illustrated by Wesley Allsbrook. Her most recent book, Life on a Little-Known Planet: Dispatches from a Changing World, was released in 2025.

Kolbert’s writing has received many awards, including a National Academies Communication Award, a Heinz Award, and the BBVA Foundation’s Biophilia Award for Environmental Communication.

Books

The Prophet of Love: And Other Tales of Power and Deceit was published by Bloomsbury Publishing in 2004. This book is a collection of articles about New York politics and public figures, including Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, and Rev. Al Sharpton. All but one of the articles were first published in The New Yorker.

Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change was published by Bloomsbury Publishing in 2006. This book was one of Kolbert’s first major works about climate change and the environment. It was listed as one of The New York Times 100 Notable Books of the year in 2006. In the book, Kolbert travels around the world to show how climate change is affecting the environment and explains scientific ideas to a wide audience. She uses comparisons to highlight the seriousness of the ecological crisis and discusses ancient civilizations as examples for today’s world.

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History was published in 2014 and became a major success in Kolbert’s career. The book argues that Earth is experiencing a sixth extinction caused by humans. Kolbert describes past mass extinctions and compares them to the current, rapid loss of species. She explains specific animals and ecosystems affected by human actions. The book is written for general readers, using clear language to explain scientific ideas. The New York Times named it one of the ten best books of the year, The Guardian listed it as one of “100 best nonfiction books of all time,” and it won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.

Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future focuses on environmental challenges caused by the Anthropocene, a period marked by human influence on Earth. The book also discusses technological solutions to these problems but warns against relying too heavily on technology. The title refers to solar geoengineering, a method to reduce sunlight reaching Earth. Kolbert explains how technological fixes for one issue may create new problems while acknowledging the potential benefits of these technologies. In an interview with Red Canary Magazine, Kolbert said, “I’m really interested in the book in this extraordinary moment that we live in, where it is increasingly difficult to draw the line between humanity and nature, because we’re such a powerful force on planet Earth.”

H is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z was published in 2024. Illustrated by artist Wesley Allsbrook, the book includes 26 essays, each linked to a letter of the alphabet, to explore the history of climate change and its uncertain future.

In an interview with Grist, Kolbert explained her choice to structure H is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z as a series of essays for each letter of the alphabet.

Kolbert’s most recent book, Life on a Little-Known Planet: Dispatches from a Changing World, published in 2025, gathers some of her most impactful writing and articles. It covers topics such as the rights of nature and the “insect apocalypse.” The book was recognized as one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, Time, Esquire, Smithsonian Magazine, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Library Journal.

Personal life

Elizabeth Kolbert lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts, with her husband, John Kleiner, and their three sons: Ned, Matthew, and Aaron. Kolbert and John Kleiner married on February 9, 1991, in Albany, New York. John Kleiner earned a master’s degree in physics from Cornell University after studying at Amherst College. He teaches English at a university.

Recognition

• 2005 American Association for the Advancement of Science Journalism Award
• 2006 National Magazine Award for Public Interest
• 2006 Lannan Literary Fellowship
• 2006 National Academies Communication Award
• 2010 16th Annual Heinz Award with special focus on global change
• 2010 National Magazine Award for Commentary
• 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship in Science Writing
• 2015 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction
• 2016 Sam Rose '58 and Julie Walters Prize at Dickinson College for Environmental Activism
• 2017 SEAL Environmental Journalism Award
• 2017 Blake-Dodd Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters
• 2022 BBVA Foundation’s Biophilia Award for Environmental Communication
• 2024 Library Lions Award for outstanding achievements in their respective fields

Essays and reporting

• – (October 7, 2024) “What Happens When the Arctic Melts: How Greenland’s Changes Affect the Whole Planet.” The New Yorker.
• – (September 4, 2023) “Talk To Me: Can Artificial Intelligence Help Us Communicate with Other Species?” Annals of Nature. The New Yorker.
• – (March 20, 2023) “The Hidden World of Caterpillars: A Scientist Tries to Find Them Before They Disappear.” Annals of Science. The New Yorker.
• – (April 11, 2022) “A Lake in Florida Sues to Stay Protected.” American Chronicles. The New Yorker.
• – (November 21, 2022) “Climate Change from A to Z: The Stories We Tell About Our Planet.” Annals of a Warming Planet. The New Yorker.
• – (January 11, 2021) “CRISPR and the Splice to Survive: New Gene-Editing Tools Might Save Species or Cause Their Extinction.” The Control of Nature. The New Yorker.
• – (December 15, 2013) “The Lost World.” Annals of Extinction. The New Yorker.
• – (November 8, 2009) “Hosed.” Books. The New Yorker.
• – (May 18, 2009) “The Sixth Extinction?” A Reporter At Large. The New Yorker.
• – (April 18, 2005) “The Climate of Man—I: Disappearing Islands, Thawing Permafrost, Melting Polar Ice. How the Earth Is Changing.” Annals of Science. The New Yorker.