John Gifford

Nonfiction books

Landscaping for Wildlife: Essays on Our Changing Planet. Forthcoming 2025

Where East Meets West. 2020
Pecan America: Exploring a Cultural Icon. 2019
Red Dirt Country: Field Notes and Essays on Nature. 2019
Small Stream Bass. 2002
Oklahoma Sportfishing. 2002

Selected essays

"The Redoubtable Bull Shark." The American Scholar. 2024
"The Pollinator Garden." The London Reader. 2023
“The Gray Ghosts of Oahu.” Sporting Classics. 2023
“Chow-Chow-Cha!” Kitchen Work. 2023
“To Know a Place.” Big Sky Journal. 2022
“New Turnpike an Attack on Wildlife.” The Oklahoman. 2022
“The Essence of Home.” The Fourth River. 2022
“Fuller Brook Dreams.” Pittsburgh Quarterly. 2022
“Don’t Stand So Close To Me.” Blueline Magazine. 2022
“The Flavors of Home.” Catamaran Literary Reader. 2020
“Consider the Catfish.” Tulane Review. 2020
“The Net.” Critical Read. 2020
“Salmon on the Table.” Gastronomica. 2020
“A Taste of Home.” Traverse Magazine. 2020
“Answering the Humble Knock.” Harvard Divinity Bulletin. 2019
“A Street Photographer’s Guide to Havana.” Santa Clara Review. 2018
“Decoy." The Meadow. 2018*
“No Alterations.” The Lindenwood Review. 2018**
“The Decisive Moment.” New Mexico Review. 2018
“It Nourishes You.” Kestrel. 2017***
“A Very Special Fish.” Arkansas Review. 2017
“Oh, Give Me a Home…” The Smart Set. 2017
"The Solace of Flowing Water." Notre Dame Magazine. 2016
"How Millennials (Almost) Killed the Wine Cork." The Atlantic. 2016
"Enigmatic Frenchman." Sport Literate. 2016
"Carla Brings Me to My Census." The Christian Science Monitor. 2015
"Fires." Southwest Review. 2015
"Breathe." Los Angeles Review. 2015
"A Hand." Santa Clara Review. 2014
"Running as a Means to an End." Sport Literate. 2013
"Edmond, Oklahoma." Orion. 2013
"Last Light." Saw Palm. 2013
"Pie Transports Me." The Christian Science Monitor. 2013

* Cited as a "Notable Essay" in The Best American Essays and The Best American Sports Writing. 2019

** Nominated for the Pushcart Prize. 2018

*** Cited as a "Notable Essay" in The Best American Essays. 2018

Anthologized works

“For the Love of Pie.” Flash Nonfiction Food. 2020
"Money Note." The Very Best of Big Table Publishing: Vol. II. 2019
Introduction. Illinois River Survey: A Visual Record. 2011
"Chance of Rain." Battle Runes: Writings on War. 2011
"Fresh Paint." Ain't Nobody That Can Sing Like Me. 2010

Reporting

"Sunny City on the Southern Plains." Western Art & Architecture. 2022
"Western Rangeland Management." ASU Swette Center News. 2022
"The Cross Timbers." American Forests. 2017
"5 Fabulous Bars in Oklahoma City." The Dallas Morning News. 2015
"Lonely at the Top." The Norman Transcript. 2004

Writer & Journalist