USU English Department Assistant Professor Amber Caron was featured in the Autumn 2022 issue of Story, a tri-annual print publication devoted to the world of short fiction. Her piece “What the Birds Knew” focuses a father’s relationship with his daughter, the beautiful mystique of egg collections, and the power of the memories we hold onto.

On “What the Birds Knew,” Amber notes, “I started this story several years ago after reading about a troubling uptick of wildlife trafficking. The more I read, the more I learned about the long history of people who steal eggs out of nests, often under the cover of night. While researching these egg thieves, I came across an image of a cabinet that had over a thousand rare bird eggs in it, all of them stolen out of nests. I was both fascinated and horrified. I wanted to write something that explored my own complicated reaction to that cabinet.”

Amber teaches fiction courses here at USU, and her work has appeared in The Threepenny Review, PEN America Best Debut Short Stories, AGNI, Bennington Review, Southwest Review, Longreads, Writer’s Chronicle, and elsewhere.