Jona L. Pedersen is an emerging writer and researcher. They left their Norwegian hometown to pursue an education in the US, where they graduated from the University of North Dakota with a B.A. in English and a B.Sc. in Fisheries & Wildlife Biology. In 2020, the university recognized their writing through the Thomas McGrath Award for poetry. Their research has also been recognized by the Entomological Society of America, who awarded Jona’s work with ladybeetle microbiomes Best Undergraduate Poster within their category in 2021.
With one foot in the arts and the other in the sciences, Jona’s passion for biology and craft often blends together. They have a particular love for plants and insects, strung by a curiosity for ecosystem functions and evolutionary drivers in the face of anthropogenic influences. These interests seep into Jona’s creative work, which wrestle with biological as well as cultural themes. Their poems and prose appear in North Dakota Quarterly, The Allegheny Review, Roi Fainéant Press, Floodwall Magazine, and Greenway Press.
