PAWS & PROSE

DOG SHOW: POEMS

BY BILLY COLLINS

Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins  — a New York Times bestselling author and longtime visiting professor in creative writing at Stony Brook Southampton — captures the essence and mystery of dogs in Dog Show, a special collection of poems inspired by our beloved companions, with striking watercolor canine portraits by Pamela Sztybel. This latest work, published in November 2025 by Random House, features 25 poems that ​​celebrate the joy of our canine best friends, honoring the love we feel for the animals who play such vital roles in our lives.  

Learn more about this or other works by Collins by visiting his website at billycollinspoetry.com/

ALFIE AND ME: WHAT OWLS KNOW, WHAT HUMANS BELIEVE

BY CARL SAFINA

When renowned ecologist (and longtime Stony Brook professor) Carl Safina and his wife, Patricia, took in a near-death baby owl, they expected that she’d be a temporary presence. But Alfie’s feathers were not growing correctly, requiring prolonged care. As Alfie grew and gained strength, she became a part of the family, joining a menagerie of dogs and chickens and making a home for herself in the backyard. Carl and Patricia began to realize that the healing was mutual; Alfie had been braided into their world, and was now pulling them into hers.

Alfie & Me, published by W.W. Norton in late 2024, is the story of the incredible impact a little owl would have on their lives. The continuing bond of trust following her freedom ― and her raising of her own wild brood ― coincided with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a year in which Carl and Patricia were forced to spend time at home without the normal obligations of work and travel. Witnessing all the fine details of their feathered friend’s life offered Carl and Patricia a view of existence from Alfie’s perspective.

Read more about this and other works by Safina at his website at www.carlsafina.org/

101 Things to Do With A Social Work Degree

FEATURING LEAH TOPEK-WALKER, MSW ’05

This guide tells the stories of 96 professionals who shared the story of the unique paths they carved with their MSW degrees. Alumna Leah Topek-Walker, a clinical associate professor in the School of Social Welfare, shared the details of her journey and the work she does now at Stony Brook. Currently, she specializes in library social work, one of the fastest growing career paths in the profession. She is in charge of placing Social Work Interns from the program in many of the libraries in Suffolk and Nassau Counties.

To read more about the book, view its listing on Amazon.

FIRST LOOK

BY JACQUELINE HENRY, ’92, MFA ’17

First Look is a collection of poems and the first published work by alumna Jacqueline Henry. Henry describes the poems as works that “walk the line between awe and fear, wonder and reckoning.” With each piece, Henry strives to capture the electric charge of a moment — a birth, a loss, a fleeting realization — and holds it long enough for us to see what lies beneath. Whether tender or shattering, these poems reveal how quickly the ordinary can become extraordinary, and how a single glimpse can echo long after the moment is gone.

Learn more about Henry and her work on her website, faith-in-form.com