Author's Biography
Jerry Dennis has earned his living since 1986 writing for publications such as The New York Times, Smithsonian, Audubon, Sports Afield, and American Way. His essays and stories, and his regular columns in Canoe and Kayak ("Traditions") and Wildlife Conservation ("The Natural Enquirer"), have won numerous awards and have been widely anthologized. His books include Canoeing Michigan Rivers, It's Raining Frogs and Fishes, A Place on the Water, The Bird in the Waterfall, The River Home, and last year's From a Wooden Canoe. It's Raining Frogs and Fishes (HarperCollins, 1992), an exploration of natural wonders of the sky, was a national bestseller and has been translated into five languages. A Place on the Water (St. Martin's Press, 1993 and 1996), a collection of essays about growing up in northern Michigan, has been widely praised by critics, has been translated into Japanese, and was recently selected by Michigan librarians as one of 25 books in the 20th century that "have made significant contributions to the understanding of Michigan, its people, its history and culture." The River Home (St. Martin's Press, 1998) was named the Best Outdoor Book of 1998 by the Outdoor Writers Association of America. In 1999 the Michigan Library Association named Dennis the recipient of its Michigan Author of the Year Award.
(Click the title links to read excerpts from those books and/or to purchase signed copies.)
In addition to his collaboration with Ken Scott on Leelanau, he has been working for several years on a natural and cultural history of the Great Lakes, to be published in autumn 2001. This summer, as part of his research for that book, he spent five weeks as a deckhand sailing the tallship Malabar from Traverse City, Michigan to Bar Harbor, Maine.