About

Hello! I'm Danna Staaf; it rhymes with Banana Cough. My author bio below is written in third person, because that's useful for a variety of professional people. Past the bio, you'll find a couple of unprofessionally goofy comics. Something for everyone!

Danna Staaf is an author, artist, and marine biologist. She earned her PhD from Stanford University with studies of squid. Her writing has appeared in Nautilus, Atlas Obscura, and Science, and her first book, Squid Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Cephalopods, was named one of the best science books of the year by NPR's Science Friday. Her book for young readers, The Lady and the Octopus: How Jeanne Villepreux-Power Invented Aquariums and Revolutionized Marine Biology, was listed as a best book of the year by both the School Library Journal and the Children's Book Committee. Staaf lives in San Jose, California, with her husband, children, cat, and innumerable plush octopuses. 

 


As I'm reading on a beanbag chair, a child joins and asks me to read to him. I read an excerpt of An Immense World about parasitic flies, and he is nonplussed. I realize I've become Calvin's Dad.


The comic begins with a conversation in media res. My husband says "Maggots are yummy" which I promise to remember, and he asks me not to take it out of context. I reply, "I'm a journalist, that's what I do." (Disclaimer: This is not, in fact, good journalism.)