Author Graeme Gibson has passed away

Author and conservationist Graeme Gibson has died at the age of eighty-five, according to the Guardian.

His long-term partner, the novelist Margaret Atwood, released a statement this afternoon saying that the family was “devastated by the loss of Graeme” but grateful that he’d “avoided the decline into further dementia that he feared.”

Gibson’s works included nonfiction such as The Bedside Book of Birds and The Bedside Book of Beasts as well as fiction, including the novel Five Legs.

He also served in several leadership roles in the writing and conservation communities; more on that is available in the Guardian’s obituary.