Ryan Goldberg—Bird City: Adventures in New York's Urban Wilds

Advance copy: Backstories on books by NASW members

Cover of the book Bird City: Adventures in New York — Bird City

BIRD CITY:
ADVENTURES IN NEW YORK'S URBAN WILDS
RYAN GOLDBERG
Algonquin Books, November 4, 2025
Hardcover, $28, eBook, $14.99, Audio Book, $27.99
ISBN-13: 9781643755564
eBook ASIN: B0DZ234KFR
Audio Book ASIN: B0DZJ39WDV

Goldberg reports:

When I was thinking about writing a book several years ago, I kept coming back to the thing I was most immersed in outside of work: birdwatching. In New York City, where I live, birding had changed how I saw my environment, from its parks to its buildings. I had met fascinating and idiosyncratic characters through it—human and feathered alike.

For years, I’d been telling my friends and my agent, Elias Altman, about the great spectacle of bird migration in New York. In early 2022, Elias encouraged me to write about the birds of New York.

Portrait photo of Ryan Goldberg in an urban outdoor setting — Ryan Goldberg
Photo by Angie Co

I worked on my proposal for several months. Elias helped me craft it. Some of it was autobiographical, and some of it was based on reporting I had already done. Importantly, I gathered natural history books about New York and other urban nature books to see how mine could fit in.

In the fall of 2022, Elias sent the proposal to various publishers. Three were interested, and Algonquin Books was the winner of an auction. The advance I received helped to fund the two years it took to finish the first draft of my manuscript.

Though this is my first book, I think I was well prepared going in. I was writing about a community that I was part of and the city where I had spent all my adult years.

At the beginning of my reporting, I spent a lot of time plotting the structure of the book. My main advice for aspiring authors is to do that, too. I used a large white board and continually updated it. If it is narrative nonfiction, you want to know the arc of your story before you go too far down the road with it.

I also used Scrivener to write the manuscript and as a place to organize my interview transcripts and vast research material. I’m glad I did. As I wrote, I always had a full picture of its many parts. I also kept a typed journal of my field notes that grew to almost 300 pages. This was the backbone of the book.

Contact Info:

Ryan Goldberg, 908-489-7220, ryangoldberg@gmail.com
- Goldberg’s website: https://ryangoldberg.net/
- Bluesky: Ryan Goldberg
Book: Bird City: Adventures in New York's Urban Wilds
Publicist: Emily Lavelle, 212-390-1328, Emilylavellecommunications@outlook.com and Aayushi Agarwal, Aayushi.Agarwal@hbgusa.com
Agent: Elias Altman, 212-352-2055, elias@mmqalit.com

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Banner image adapted from original photo by Ryan Goldberg.

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Advance Copy

The path from idea to book may take myriad routes. The Advance Copy column, started in 2000 by NASW volunteer book editor Lynne Lamberg, features NASW authors telling the stories behind their books. Authors are asked to report how they got their idea, honed it into a proposal, found an agent and a publisher, funded and conducted their research, and organized their writing process. They also are asked to share what they wish they’d known when they started or would do differently next time, and what advice they can offer aspiring authors. Lamberg edits the authors’ answers to produce the Advance Copy reports.

NASW members: Will your book be published soon? Visit www.nasw.org/advance-copy-submission-guidelines for information on submitting your report.

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