sid sibo
Writing Rooted Stories
COMING OUT Sept 2026
The Scent of
Distant Family
finalist for 2024 Indies Foreword & National Indies Excellence Awards
Testimonials
(un)Familiar: stories
Beautiful, complex, vibrant. These stories are to be read in a sitting but ruminated for a lifetime. Rather than simply write about the more-than-human world, sibo truly sees it, and helps you see it, too.
--D. L. Duda, winner of the 2025 John Burroughs Nature Essay Award
In the collection (un)Familiar: stories, sid sibo introduces us to characters who, in their various and often conflicting ways, try to make sense of their lives and all that threatens them, from the changing world they once called home to the loss of those once held dear. The beyond-human and wild world, with which the author is deeply familiar, acts as a community of living beings: lakes have eyes, pikas share opinions, and a deerfly offers sage advice. A strand of deep concern for the wild runs through these stories, as the various characters within them strive to heed the deerfly: do something. --Susan Marsh, May Sarton award-winning author of War Creek: a novel
Testimonials
The Scent of Distant Family
“
The Scent of Distant Family is such a rich read for all five senses. I’m left especially in awe of how sid sibo illustrates the lives of dogs, wolves and horses just as keenly and validly as those of the humans - anyone who scoffs at anthropomorphizing need only read one of her sentences to see what we gain when we write non-human beings as more than cliches or part of the scenery. The author takes the age-old lost dog story and delivers it anew, setting the search in a remote winter-deep Wyoming valley that’s changing with the times and the climate, where Nik Delaney’s plate already is full after scuttling a biology career to care for an aging dad while dealing with a failing marriage, a brother with questionable personal and business ethics, and a nephew's need to know his true origin story – one she’s long kept secret. The author’s personal knowledge of the landscape and lifestyles adds so much authenticity and guarantees the reader will be fully transported. I could read an entire series about Nik and the family she’s found in this beautifully written story of searching.
Suzanne Strempek Shea,
author of Make a Wish but Not for Money and Around Again
“
What begins as a lost-dog story quickly develops into an unfolding tapestry of life. Families and strangers, along with animals, wild and domestic, are woven into an intricate mosaic of relationships. . . . A masterly achievement.
Michael Mountain, cofounder of the Whale Sanctuary Project and founding editor of
Best Friends Magazine
Interviews, Reviews, and Podcasts
(un)Familiar: stories
With Tanya Eby of Tanya Eby Writes
The Scent of Distant Family
With Exec Editor Matt Sutherland of Foreword Reviews
With Keshia Farrand of The Animal Rescue Podcast
With Mark Stevens of The Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers podcast
With Jill Quist of Voice Lessons: Uncovering & Claiming Your Unique Creative Voice
Print interview in The Maine Review, with RS Saha at The Radicle
Print interview in The Cowboy State Daily, Jackie Dorothy, online
Review in the Rocky Mountain Reader, Shelli Rotshafer: "Family in search of home."
from The Roundup, Western Writers of America
"I was moved to tears, as well as impressed with the vivid portrayal of Wyoming winter. I heartily recommend The Scent of Distant Family."
PBS' WY: A Reading Road Trip
Maine Character Energy Charity Anthology
With Troy Myers of Stone House Readers Series
BIO
i live in western Wyoming with gratitude and respect for the Shoshone and Bannock peoples who have long stewarded this landscape. Former occupations include: wilderness ranger, whitewater camp boss, backcountry guide, log peeler, library staff, carpenter, NGO assistant, deli slicer, gas station cashier, market gardener...you get the picture! In 2019, i earned an MFA from the Stonecoast fiction program in Maine, then the 2020 Neltje Blanchan Memorial Writing Award, and later had work included in Best Small Fictions 2022, Reader Centered Writing, and the charity anthology Maine Character Energy.
My career in public land management provided wide-ranging explorations in cultural and natural ecologies. Landscapes, research and partnerships all offer story seeds and character insights. Short fiction has been published in Orca, Cutthroat, Cardinal Sins, Brilliant Flash Fiction, and Fourth River, among others. Over thirty rescued animals share our cabin and small farm. All author proceeds from The Scent of Distant Family and (un)Familiar: stories are donated to animal welfare, such as Best Friends Animal Society, Lucky's Place shelter, The Bond Between, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Canine Companions, World Wildlife Fund & more.
CONTACT
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