Wildlife illustrator Matt Patterson will bring his sketchbooks and stories from Madagascar, Belize and rural New England to The Walden Woods Project on Wednesday, Oct. 21, when he presents "Wildlife in Focus: Matt Patterson's Journey in Art and Conservation" as part of the 2026 Concord Festival of Authors, according to a Discover Concord event listing.

The talk runs 6:15 to 8 p.m. at the project's headquarters, 44 Baker Farm Road in Lincoln.

Patterson grew up in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, searching for turtles and snakes along local streams. He built a career painting the animals he encounters in the wild. His fieldwork has taken him to Madagascar for a radiated tortoise survey with the Turtle Survival Alliance and into the Belize rainforest. He uses acrylic paint and washes to produce anatomically precise illustrations that often leave significant negative space, drawing the viewer's eye to the subject.

"I love to get out in the field as much as I can and see animals in the wild and where they belong," Patterson said in a 2025 profile interview with the Palate & Palette newsletter.

At the October event, Patterson plans to discuss his conservation work, his illustration process and the three most recent books he created with award-winning naturalist and author Sy Montgomery. Their collaboration "Of Time and Turtles" reached No. 13 on The New York Times hardcover nonfiction bestseller list in October 2024, and "The Book of Turtles" earned a Sibert Honor as one of the most distinguished nonfiction books for young readers in 2024.

Patterson is a Signature Member of Artists for Conservation, an international nonprofit supporting wildlife and habitat conservation through art. His painting "Roseate Spoonbill" won the organization's Medal of Excellence in 2024, and his work "The Finch Response" was selected for the 50th Birds in Art exhibition at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin.

The Concord Festival of Authors runs Oct. 8 through Oct. 30 this year, with events hosted at venues including The Walden Woods Project, the Concord Free Public Library and other local institutions.