In this session, Jared Margulies & Charis Enns will introduce their forthcoming books: The Cactus Hunters, which focuses on the illegal wildlife trade in cactus and succulent plants, and Setter Ecologies, which examines how animals and plants can be enrolled in the ongoing reproduction of settler colonialism. Conversation between the authors and discussants, Prof Dan Brockington and Dr Annette Hübschle, will draw out key themes that link these two new political ecology books and that resonate deeply with both the conference theme and the South African context, including: settler-colonialism, species extinction, imaginaries of nature and more-than-human relationships. The session will also involve a Q&A in which the authors will converse with the audience about these books, as well as provide an opportunity for discussion with early career researchers in political ecology about book projects more broadly.