GATLINBURG, Tenn. – Smokies Life has announced Jim and Leslie Costa as the recipients of its 2025 Steve Kemp Writer’s Residency. During their residency, the North Carolina-based couple plans to continue work already underway to write and illustrate a forthcoming field guide to the Smokies insects to be published by Smokies Life.
Shown in their Cullowhee, N.C. residence, Jim Costa is a professor and executive director of the Highlands Biological Station of Western Carolina University, and Leslie Costa is a freelance illustrator, editor and transcriber for the London-based Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project. (Photo courtesy of Smokies Life)
Dr. Jim Costa is a professor of biology at Western Carolina University and the executive director of Highlands Biological Station in Highlands, North Carolina, where he developed a three-week, biannual, biogeography field course that compares the temperate Great Smoky Mountains region to the tropical rainforests of Ecuador. Jim’s many topics of academic study include insect behavior and ecology, environmental history and philosophy, conservation biology and the history of evolutionary thought. He has authored numerous research papers, reviews and magazine articles, as well as nine books — including, most recently, “Radical by Nature: The Revolutionary Life of Alfred Russel Wallace” (Princeton University Press, 2023) and, co-authored with Bobbi Angell, “Darwin and the Art of Botany: Observations on the Curious World of Plants” (Timber Press, 2023).
“My partner Leslie and I have the honor of working with Smokies Life on an exciting writing project celebrating the diversity and natural history of insects and their kin in Great Smoky Mountains National Park,” Jim explained. “The project, of which I am author and Leslie is illustrator, can perhaps be best described as a kind of literary field guide in which we aim to invite park visitors to pause and look more closely at the ‘the little things that run the world,’ as the late Edward O. Wilson described our ubiquitous six- and eight-legged friends. In so doing, our hope is that curious park visitors will gain an appreciation for this largely overlooked but vitally important component of the Smokies fauna.”
Leslie Costa’s career has ranged from museum curation — starting in the Entomology Department at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology — to exhibit and book design, and from scientific illustration to leadings children’s nature camps. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Georgia Southern University, and graduate degrees in entomology and landscape architecture from the University of Georgia in Athens. Leslie is a frequent collaborator on Jim’s books, illustrating “The Other Insect Societies” (Harvard, 2006) and “Darwin’s Backyard: How Small Experiments Led to a Big Theory” (Norton, 2017).
To better observe insect activity and the various life cycle stages of different species throughout the seasons, the Costas will split their residency into three two-week parts rather than spending six consecutive weeks in the park.
“We felt this was the ideal way to experience the park through the ‘high season’ of insect activity, each period substantial enough to visit several areas of interest and devote time to the project,” said Leslie. “Since the spring, summer and early fall are the busiest times of year at Highlands Biological Station, we have not spent nearly as much time in the Smokies at those times of year. The residency will help remedy that!”
Jim added that “there is no substitute for full immersion — spending time in particular habitats or community types in different areas of the park for observation, photography, contemplation. Also, the residency affords a wonderful opportunity to consult the park’s extensive entomology collection and confer with park biologists and others on questions that may arise.”
The annual residency, funded by Smokies Life, is designed to help writers of any medium connect in meaningful ways with Great Smoky Mountains National Park, providing space for each individual to focus on his or her craft in a retreat-like setting and potentially inspiring some of their best work. The Costas will work with program namesake Steve Kemp and Smokies Life Creative Director Frances Figart, who oversees the program, as well as other park professionals and partners.
“I have the late George Ellison to thank for introducing me to the world-class writing and illustration of the Costas back in 2018,” Figart said. “We are lucky to have such a dynamic duo working in the Smokies’ community, and I’m thrilled their joint application rose to the top for our nine judges this year.”
In the fall, the Costas will engage with park visitors through their own Branch Out insect program, “Bees, Bugs, Butterflies & Birds: Connecting Insect Diversity and Native Plants,” held on two consecutive Saturdays, Sept. 20 and 27.
“Besides the uninterrupted blocks of time for observing, writing and drawing at different points in the season, we are excited about working with the park’s education staff on our Branch Out programs,” Leslie said. “They will be fun — a way to encourage folks to look a bit more closely at the natural world around them and hopefully come to appreciate that there’s more there than seemingly meets the eye!”
The application period for the 2026 Kemp Residency will open in August 2025. For more information on Smokies Life and the Steve Kemp Writer’s Residency, contact Frances@SmokiesLife.org or visit SmokiesLife.org/the-steve-kemp-writers-residency.
Smokies Life is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the scientific, historical and interpretive activities of Great Smoky Mountains National Park by providing educational products and services to park visitors. Smokies Life depends on the generous support of its members to fulfill its mission, preserving the Smokies for generations to come. Proceeds from members’ dues and retail stores also support dozens of seasonal rangers and interns who protect and interpret the 800 miles of trails, 100 historic structures and 21,000 documented species of life preserved in the park. For more information about Smokies Life and to join, visit SmokiesLife.org.
- Smokies Life release
