Cindy Crosby and Peggy McNamara

Teaches at The Morton Arboretum

Cindy Crosby is the author, compiler, or contributor to more than 20 books, including The Tallgrass Prairie: An Introduction and co-author of Tallgrass Conversations: In Search of the Prairie Spirit. Her latest book, Chasing Dragonflies: A Natural and Cultural History (Northwestern University Press, 2020), an engaging, beautifully illustrated introduction to these remarkable insects. Cindy is a prairie steward at the Schulenberg Prairie and Nachusa Grasslands, and coordinates dragonfly monitoring programs at both sites. She earned a Master's Degree in Natural Resources at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and is a Certified Interpretive Trainer with the NAI. She blogs each week at Tuesdays in the Tallgrass @Wordpress and teaches natural history and trains naturalists in the Chicago region.

Peggy Macnamara has served as the Artist-in-Residence at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History since 1990, and as an Associate Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Macnamara has traveled with Field Museum scientists all over the world to paint nature and illustrate conservation efforts. She has published several books.