Brooks Lamb is the author of Love for the Land: Lessons from Farmers Who Persist in Place (Yale University Press, 2023), a book that reviewers have called "excellent," "hopeful," and "more necessary than ever." He is also the author of Overton Park: A People's History (University of Tennessee Press, 2019) and has published many essays, articles, op-eds, and poems.
In addition to his work as a writer, Brooks is the Special Advisor for Strategic Communications at American Farmland Trust, where he uses strategic thinking and storytelling to reach broad audiences and advocate for a better future for farming. He is especially focused on efforts to increase and improve farmland protection, enhance next-generation land access and ease generational farm transfers, and strengthen rural culture, economies, and wellbeing. Brooks earned his master’s degree at Yale School of the Environment and his undergraduate degree at Rhodes College. He now teaches as an adjunct professor at Rhodes, leading a course called “Agriculture, Society, and the Environment.”
Although he now lives in Memphis, Brooks grew up on a small farm in rural Tennessee, and he remains active in its stewardship. His family and the farm have helped him nurture a strong work ethic, an understanding of hope, and a commitment to community.