Cassie Premo Steele's newest book is the environmental novel, Beaver Girl, chosen as the 2024 One Book, One Community selection for the City of Columbia, South Carolina. Past authors honored by the program include the novelists Pat Conroy, Lee Smith, Carla Damron, Min Jin Lee, and Leonard Pitts, Jr. An environmental poet, novelist, and essayist, her writing focuses on the themes of trauma, healing, creativity, and mindfulness, and she participates in community events and teaches classes on these themes online and in person. She holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. The author of 18 books, including 3 novels and 7 books of poetry, her poetry has won many awards and been nominated 8 times for the Pushcart Prize. For the past five years, she has led free seasonal Forest Wellness Journaling Workshops at Congaree National Park, and she is currently part of a team editing an anthology of art and writing to benefit the Friends of Congaree. "Still Here" is her monthly column for The Post and Courier's Free Times, which highlights the wild and rural places across the state of South Carolina, where she lives with her wife.