For thousands of years spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) were thought to be hermaphroditic, because males and females have identical phallic genitalia. Though they look nearly the same, they are sexually distinct, the slightly larger and more powerful females ruling their often extensive clans. With a wide range of communicative vocalizations and sophisticated interpersonal behaviors, hyenas are considered to be as intelligent as chimpanzees. Often mischaracterized as solely scavengers, they are actually skillful and effective hunters, seldom observed because they hunt most often in darkness.

Memoir of a Hyena is the harrowing memoir of one such spotted hyena as he lives his brief and difficult life in the shadow of his sister’s rise to greatness. Marginalized and scorned by his own family, caught in the crossfire of his clan’s political upheavals, his search for meaning and purpose takes him far across the vast, brutal Tanzanian steppe. In his unsparing self-evaluation, through the bravery of his choices and honesty in confronting his limitations, he finds insight and hope. But will this tenuous hope itself be weaponized against him?

Illustrated throughout with artwork by Johanna Jackson and Chris Johanson.