Patricia

Ononiwu Kaishian

Mycologist

Nonfiction Writer & Educator

Travels from: Albany, NY

“With immense knowledge, grace, experience, and lyrical prose … Kaishian persuades us that there is never just one way for living things in the natural world to reproduce or evolve or interact.” — Kirkus

Dr. Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian is the author of Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature (Spiegel & Grau). In this book, she weaves memoir, natural history, and philosophy in order to challenge our expectations of what is normal, beautiful, and possible for life on earth.

She is the Curator of Mycology at the New York State Museum, as well as faculty with the Bard Prison Initiative. She earned her PhD in mycology from SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry. Her scientific research focuses on fungal taxonomy, diversity, evolution, symbiosis, and ecology, particularly of the less studied fungal groups, such as the insect-associated parasites. She conducts biodiversity surveys around the world, seeking to better understand fungal population patterns. Patricia is a co-founder of the International Congress of Armenian Mycologists, which seeks to jointly protect Armenian sovereignty and biodiversity.

She also studies philosophy of science, queer ecology, and queer theory, exploring how mycology and other scientific disciplines are situated in and informed by our sociopolitical landscape. Her work, The science underground: mycology as a queer discipline (Catalyst, 2020) bridged the relationship between queerness and mycology. Patricia is interested in leveraging her knowledge as a scientist to advance imaginative solutions to climate change and systems of oppression.

Patricia's Featured Titles

Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature

Spiegel & Grau |

May 27, 2025

Ecology

“An antidote to the loneliness of our species.”—ROBIN WALL KIMMERER

“A master class in how to love the world.”—MARGARET RENKL

A thrilling book about the abounding queerness of the natural world that challenges our expectations of what is normal, beautiful, and possible.

Growing up, Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian felt most at home in the swamps and culverts near her house in the Hudson Valley. A child who frequently felt out of place, too much of one thing or not enough of another, she found acceptance in these settings, among other amphibious beings. In snakes, snails, and, above all, fungi, she saw her own developing identities as a queer, neurodivergent person reflected back at her—and in them, too, she found a personal path to a life of science.

In Forest Euphoria, Kaishian shows us this making of a scientist and introduces readers to the queerness of all the life around us. Fungal species, we learn, commonly encompass more than two biological sexes—and some as many as twenty-three thousand. Some intersex slugs mutually fire calcium carbonate “love darts” at each other during courtship. Glass eels are sexually undetermined until their last year of life, a mystery that scientists once dubbed “the eel question.” Nature, Kaishian shows us, is filled with the unusual, the overlooked, and the marginalized—and they have lessons for us all.

Wide-ranging, richly observant, and full of surprises, Forest Euphoria will open your eyes and change how you look at the world.

Creative Nonfiction, Natural World, Nonfiction, Science & Technology

Scientific & Theoretical Lessons from Mycology

Our scientific understanding of mushrooms and other fungi has been shaped and impeded by mycophobia, a condition of fear and revulsion to the peculiarities of this kingdom of life. However, fungi show us cooperative, alternative, entangled, interdependent, and more-than-human modes of living that are worth studying, imitating, learning from. This talk is oriented towards scientists, academics from the humanities, and anyone who seeks to engage critically with science and who is interested in how discourse ripples across various disciplines and areas of life.

What is Queer Ecology?

Queer ecology is an emerging and expansive field that seeks to study the biological diversity of sex and reproduction, as well as examine the ways in which society (and science) has inaccurately enforced binaries, hierarchies, and “normality.” This talk uses a queer theoretical lens to make sense of the human experience as it relates to profound diversity of nature.

Tree Thinking: Introduction to Phylogenetics

“Thank you so much again for your visit!! I know folks had a really lovely time and I wanted to start off by sharing some of the sweet comments:
– That was the most I’ve ever heard the audience laugh in a lecture ever
– I’m a grad student from UC Berkeley and I facilitate DEI meetings for my lab. I think this [recorded lecture] would be great material for a conversation in our lab!
– I *love* her honoring of intuition in field discovery –> i wonder how this acceptably yin aspect to practicing science might be moved forward, be less likely to be erased by the yang process of justifying & sharing the later knowledge.” — Swarthmore College

“I am really enjoying the Advaya course, the depth of your knowledge and quality of your presentation is just stunning. I know from experience that it is hard, and an energy drain, to teach online especially when most people have their cameras off, but for what it is worth, it’s an excellent course.” — Online Queer Ecology course student

“Wanted to write a quick note today to say thanks to you both once again for a lovely night last night — stirring conversation, a warm and excited room, plenty of books sold… basically all a bookstore can ask for!” — Manager at Rough Draft

Patricia’s Media Page