Delia Owens
Delia Owens has published 4 books across 2 series. The recommended reading order starts with Cry of the Kalahari (With: Mark Owens) (1992).
Delia Owens is an American author and wildlife scientist who won the John Burroughs Award for Nature Writing before turning to fiction. She spent decades in Africa studying lions in the Kalahari and elephants in the North Luangwa Valley of Zambia, work that became the foundation for three internationally popular nonfiction books, including Cry of the Kalahari. Her research appeared in Nature, The African Journal of Ecology, and other scientific publications.
Owens grew up in Georgia with a mother who taught her not to fear the outdoors, a childhood that sent her to the University of Georgia for a degree in Zoology and then to the University of California, Davis, for a PhD in Animal Behavior. After nearly twenty years in the African wilderness, she moved to Idaho, where she now focuses on the conservation of grizzly bears, wolves, and wetlands.
Her debut novel, Where the Crawdads Sing, brought her background as a naturalist into fiction, blending mystery with the close observation of the natural world that shaped her scientific career. The book introduced readers to her ability to write landscape as a living presence, drawing on the same eye for detail that once tracked animal behavior across remote terrain.
Shelf & Shadows
Order of Non-Fiction Books
- Tagsnon-fictionbiographymemoirDescriptionWhat does it take to leave everything behind and chase a dream into one of the harshest places on earth? For Delia and Mark Owens, it meant trading comfort for the Kalahari Desert, armed with little more than curiosity and determination. This is the story of two young biologists who ventured into Botswana's remote wilderness to study the animals that call it home. They lived in isolation for seven years. No running water. No electricity. Just lions prowling outside their tent and the vast, unforgiving landscape stretching in every direction. The Owens didn't just observe wildlife—they became part of the ecosystem. They tracked brown hyenas that had never been studied before. They watched the delicate balance between predator and prey play out in real time. And they discovered that survival in the Kalahari demands as much from humans as it does from the creatures they came to understand. This is adventure writing at its most raw and intimate. The prose captures both the beauty and brutality of the desert, the thrill of discovery, and the toll of isolation. It's a testament to what two people can endure when driven by passion and purpose. If you've ever wondered what it means to truly immerse yourself in the wild, this book will show you.Publication dateOctober 15, 1992Amazon rating4.6/5Print length384LanguageEnglishPublisherMariner Books
- Tagsnon-fictionDescriptionWhat does it cost to stand between a species and extinction? Delia and Mark Owens know the answer. They lived it in the wilds of Zambia, where poachers slaughtered elephants by the thousands and the silence of complicity was deafening. This is conservation at its most raw and unvarnished. The Owens didn't observe from a distance. They embedded themselves in North Luangwa National Park, documenting the carnage, confronting armed poachers, and fighting a system riddled with corruption. The elephants were dying. The wilderness was bleeding out. And two biologists decided they couldn't look away. Their work is urgent, dangerous, and deeply personal—a testament to what happens when scientific duty collides with moral imperative. The writing carries the weight of witness. Delia Owens brings the landscape to life with the precision of a trained zoologist and the heart of someone who refuses to let these animals become statistics. This is non-fiction that reads like a thriller because the stakes are life and death. The elephants have no voice in the halls of power. The Owens became that voice. Their story is a reckoning with what we're willing to sacrifice—and what we're willing to fight for—when the natural world hangs in the balance.Publication dateOctober 29, 1993Amazon rating4.5/5Print length324LanguageEnglishPublisherMariner Books
- Tagsnon-fictionbiographyDescriptionThis is a book that refuses to let you look away from what conservation really costs. Delia and Mark Owens spent years in the remote Kalahari Desert and later in Zambia's North Luangwa Valley, living among elephants, lions, and hyenas while fighting a brutal war against poachers who were decimating wildlife populations. Their work wasn't just observation—it was intervention, often dangerous, always urgent, as they witnessed the collision between human need and animal survival in one of Africa's last wild places. What makes this memoir extraordinary is its unflinching honesty about the moral complexities of their mission. The Owens don't romanticize the savanna or their role in it; they show you the blood, the bureaucracy, the impossible choices, and the moments of transcendent beauty that kept them going. You'll meet individual animals—elephants with distinct personalities, a brown hyena they befriended—and feel the weight of each loss. This is nature writing with teeth, a love story to a landscape and its creatures, and a reckoning with what it means to dedicate your life to something larger than yourself, even when the odds are stacked impossibly high.Publication date2006Amazon rating4.5/5LanguageEnglishPublisherBrilliance Audio
Order of Standalone Novels
- Tagsliterary-fictionmysterychildrencrimehistorical-fictionhorrorDescriptionThis is a novel that refuses to choose between genres and is all the better for it. Delia Owens weaves murder mystery, nature writing, and coming-of-age story into something that feels both timeless and urgent. The result is a book that grips you from multiple angles at once. Kya Clark grows up alone in the North Carolina marshlands, abandoned by her family and shunned by the nearby town of Barkley Cove. She raises herself in the wild, learning to read the tides and the birds, surviving on her wits and the land's harsh generosity. Then two men enter her life, offering connection she's never known. When one of them turns up dead in 1969, the town's suspicion falls exactly where you'd expect: on the girl they've always called a monster. Owens writes the marsh as a character in its own right—beautiful, indifferent, alive with secrets. The nature passages are precise and unsentimental, grounding Kya's isolation in something real. But this isn't just atmospheric window dressing. The book asks hard questions about what we owe each other, about the violence of neglect, about who gets to be believed. It's a story about a girl the world tried to erase who refused to disappear. That defiance is what makes it sing.Publication dateAugust 14, 2018Amazon rating4.7/5Print length384LanguageEnglishPublisherG.P. Putnam's Sons
Frequently Asked Questions about Delia Owens
Delia Owens's books can be read in any order. She has written several non-fiction books primarily focused on nature and wildlife, often co-authored with Mark Owens. These include Cry of the Kalahari (1992), The Eye of the Elephant / Survivor's Song (1993), and Secrets of the Savanna (2006). In addition to these, she wrote the standalone novel Where the Crawdads Sing (2018). The non-fiction works detail experiences in Africa, while the novel is a work of fiction set in the marshes of North Carolina. Readers can choose based on their interest in factual accounts of nature or a fictional narrative.
A good starting point for Delia Owens is her novel Where the Crawdads Sing, published in 2018. This book brought her widespread recognition and introduced many readers to her evocative writing style. It is a standalone work, meaning it does not require prior knowledge of other books. Alternatively, readers interested in her background as a wildlife scientist might begin with her non-fiction works, such as Cry of the Kalahari (1992), which chronicles her early experiences in Botswana.
No, you do not have to read Delia Owens's books in any particular order. Her non-fiction books, co-authored with Mark Owens, focus on wildlife and conservation in Africa and can be read independently of each other and her novel. Her sole novel, Where the Crawdads Sing, is a standalone story. Each of her published books offers a distinct experience, whether it's a factual account of the natural world or a fictional narrative.
Delia Owens writes both standalone novels and non-fiction books. Her only novel published to date is Where the Crawdads Sing (2018), which is a standalone work. Before her success as a novelist, she authored several non-fiction books about wildlife and nature, often in collaboration with Mark Owens. These non-fiction titles include Cry of the Kalahari (1992), The Eye of the Elephant / Survivor's Song (1993), and Secrets of the Savanna (2006).
Delia Owens has written a total of four books. This includes one standalone novel and three non-fiction works. Her novel is Where the Crawdads Sing, published in 2018. The non-fiction titles are Cry of the Kalahari (1992), The Eye of the Elephant / Survivor's Song (1993), and Secrets of the Savanna (2006). The non-fiction books were co-authored with Mark Owens.
The first book Delia Owens wrote was Cry of the Kalahari, published in 1992. This non-fiction work details her early experiences and research in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana, co-authored with Mark Owens. It lays the foundation for her subsequent writings, which often explore the natural world and the intricacies of animal behavior, drawing from her extensive background as a wildlife scientist.
Delia Owens's most recent book is Where the Crawdads Sing, published in 2018. This novel marked her debut into fiction writing and achieved significant readership. Prior to this, her published works were non-fiction accounts of her life and research as a wildlife scientist in Africa, with Secrets of the Savanna (2006) being the last non-fiction book before her novel.
Delia Owens writes in two main genres: non-fiction, specifically nature and wildlife, and fiction, with her notable work being a mystery and coming-of-age novel. Her non-fiction books, such as Cry of the Kalahari and Secrets of the Savanna, are based on her experiences as a wildlife scientist in Africa and focus on animal behavior and the African landscape. Her novel, Where the Crawdads Sing, blends elements of literary fiction with a mystery plot.
Elizabeth Gilbert
Coming soon
James G. Anderson
Coming soon
We verified the reading order for Delia Owens's books by cross-referencing official publication dates, ISBN databases, and publisher catalogs.
Last verified: April 2026
Shelf & Shadows. (…). “Delia Owens Books in Order.” Retrieved …, from https://www.shelfandshadows.com/authors/delia-owens