Jill Riddell is the founder and operator of the Office of Modern Composition, a writing studio that helps people and businesses to tell their stories, and she is the host and executive producer of The Shape of the World, a podcast about nature and cities. Jill is also on the faculty of the MFA in Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago.
Jill currently serves on the Chicago Mayor’s Nature & Wildlife Committee. In the past, she was president of the Illinois Environmental Council, and she was also the Chair of the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission.
After graduating from Northwestern University, Jill started her career at The Nature Conservancy, followed by working as the Director of Marketing and Communications at Openlands and then as Vice President of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. At the museum, Jill was in charge of exhibits and educational programming and jointly with the museum’s President, created and co-hosted her first podcast, the Little Green People Show.
Jill was a columnist for the Chicago Reader, where she wrote the “Field & Street” column for several years. She continues to write stories, essays, and articles, and she publishes in various places.
At home in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Jill has a backyard that serves as a small farm: She has honeybees, apple trees, and vegetables. Jill shares the house (and the garden!) with her husband, Tim Brown.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO HUMANS & NATURE:
- “The Invitation,” an essay in Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations
City Creatures blog posts:
Noteworthy Links:
- The Shape of the World
Follow Jill Riddell’s podcast about nature and cities. - Office of Modern Composition
