Joe Fassler

is a writer and editor based in Denver, Colorado. His debut novel, The Sky Was Ours, is forthcoming from Penguin Books (and is available for pre-order here).

Joe’s writing on food, environmental issues, books, and culture appears in venues like like The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and The Best American Food Writing.

Joe developed encyclopedic knowledge of and specialized skill in reporting on food systems as a former deputy editor of The Counter. His journalism has been supported by the Ted Scripps Fellowship in Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado, Boulder and the 11th Hour Food and Farming Fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley.

In 2013, Joe started The Atlantic’s “By Heart” series— as-told-to essays by leading writers on the passages from literature that shaped their lives and work. That project led to editing Light the Dark: Writers on Creativity, Inspiration, and the Artistic Process (Penguin, 2017), a book-length collection that included favorites from “By Heart” alongside new contributions.

In addition to leading EcoGather’s Food & Environmental Writing offerings and developing our nuanced Animal Ethics course, Joe also teaches writing at Colorado’s Lighthouse Writers’ Workshop.