Best Interview Ever
A few notes in the New Year
Hey friends,
I was planning to drop in this morning to wish you a Happy New Year, and to let you know that I’ll be back to writing here next week, with a story about wolves and the turbulence that comes after visiting them.
As I write, though, I’m distracted by news of the New Year’s first disaster: a U.S. attack on Venezuela. I have a lot of Venezuelan friends, and so I’m thinking of them and their families. Then I’m thinking of violence, of the wars I’ve witnessed and reported on, and how it is that no matter what reasons are given for this miniature invasion, they are lies. With this news the dead come back to me and what they say is what they have always said what we have alway known. No one would want their child to die for a lie.
It’s hard to turn thought away from what’s happening in Venezuela, partly because it is so completely tethered to what’s happening in Palestine, Congo, Sudan; what’s happening here, now, at home; what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s hard not to believe what’s ahead in the new year is darkness, and descent, old cycles of grief, continued assaults on the natural world, as though it were an enemy.
But this was not where I’d meant to go when I began writing to you today. So.
What I’d wanted to do was share my favorite interview from the last few weeks, in case you missed it, the one I did with my kids. Below. They give me hope on the dark days. Video thanks to the amazing Shalea Harris, and to my partner, Taylor Hom. And to 2/3s of my son circus, Remy and Rei.
My new book, Frostlines, continues to meet people and do its own thing out in the world; please scroll down for some of that news. You can read an excerpt, listen to me read a passage or, if you’re in Washington, D.C., come out to Politics and Prose on Monday night, and join me in conversation with my NatGeo editor, Peter Gwin.
Wishing you all the very best in the year ahead, despite and against and within the darkness.
In which I am interviewed by my sons, and one poops his pants.
Book Things
Read an Excerpt
Listen
Events
January 5, 2026 — Politics & Prose, Washington, D.C. | 7pm
Onstage w/ Peter Gwin again, talking Arctic, animals, and the future of cold.January 15 — Titcomb’s Book Shop, Sandwich, Massachusetts | 6 pm
January 29 — Porter Square Books, Cambridge, Mass.
January 30 — An Unlikely Story, Plainville, Mass.
March 25 — Darien Public Library, Darien, Connecticut | 7 pm
TBD — Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H.
Reviews
BookPage starred review
”Neil Shea brings the Arctic to stunning, awe-inspiring life, offering readers a richly detailed, up-close look at the ways in which climate change is transforming the region and the people and animals who call it home.Library Journal
”Shea’s observations are striking and stirring. His book does triple duty as a travel narrative, natural history title, and tale of societal adaptation to a changing environment.LitHub
”What Should You Read Next? Here Are the Best Reviewed Books of the Week”Publishers Weekly starred review
”Shea sketches moving scenes in lyrical prose that emphasizes the interconnectedness of living things. Readers will be transported.”“A fascinating, if grim, portrait of a region that’s getting less cold.”
& More
Frostlines is one of Barnes and Noble’s best books of 2025.
It’s also an Editor’s Pick at Amazon for Best Nonfiction books of December.
Wonderful. Happy New Year!