The Overstory

The Overstory is a novel by American author Richard Powers, published in 2018 by W. W. Norton & Company. The book follows nine Americans whose unique life experiences with trees bring them together to address the destruction of forests. It features an innovative and non-linear narrative structure and explores themes of environmental activism and humanity's relationship with the natural world.

Powers has said that the book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer helped shape his novel: "So much of 'The Overstory' is imbued with Robin's vision of the agency of plants, seeing them as complex creatures that have a kind of intelligence."

The book received widespread critical acclaim and won several major literary awards, including the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the 2020 William Dean Howells Medal. It was shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize.