David Quammen
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I. Biography
One of Montana's finest authors; David Quammen has reached his life-long goal. As a child he always knew he wanted to be writer in some shape or form. Quammen wrote poems and short stories for his parents and teachers. He just wanted someone to read them, which he enjoyed.
David Quammen wrote his first novel that was published in college while he was attending Yale University. He then realized he wanted to be writer for the rest of his life, but he felt he should still get his degree in literature. He decided to transfer to Oxford for the rest of his college terms to finish his degree. While attending there, he played basketball for the school team and wasn't really concerned with his degree, which he did end up getting anyway.
When he got back from Oxford, he moved around a lot, but found his niche in Bozeman, Montana, to pursue his writing career. He lives with his wife Kris Ellingsen. Coincidentally, one of his neighbors turned out to be one of Ernest Hemingway's sons. While in Bozeman, he had a few jobs waiting tables and bartending because the writing business was tough. He then decided to switch his section or material of writing to science journalism, which he enjoyed immensely. This move to a new style of writing was a wise choice for Quammen.
David Quammen ended up writing in Outside magazine from 1981 to 1995. The section he wrote in was Natural Acts, in which he received the National Magazine Award twice. One of Quammen's most famous books would be The Song of the Dodo . When asked what his favorite pieces of work are, Quammen says Walking Out, The Same River Twice, and The Keys to Kingdom Come. All of his favorites are based in the state of Montana. Quammen has reached his life-long career as a writer and continues to make himself well known throughout the world.
II. Literary works by David Quammen
The American Wilderness: Jouneys into Distant and Historical Landscapes
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2000
Blood Line: Stories of Fathers and Sons
The Boilerplate Rhino: Nature in the Eye of the Beholder
The Flight of the Iguana: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature
Killer Algea
Wild Thoughts from Wild Places
This essay was submitted by a student of Steve Gardiner, a teacher at Billings Senior High School in Billings, Montana.