Bill Belleville was an environmental writer, documentary filmmaker, and lecturer in the United States.BILL BELLEVILLE, WRITER AND ENVIRONMENTALIST, Orlando Sentinel - Oct 13, 1996 He received the

Order of the South The Southern Academy of Letters, Arts and Sciences awarded the Order of the South. Recipients include Eudora Welty, James Dickey, David Nolan and Patrick D. Smith. The award was established in 1971. The Academy included an Institute of Southern Aff ...

award. His book ''Losing it all to Sprawl'' was named one of the "Best Books of the Year" by the ''

Library Journal ''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...

''. "Salvaging the Real Florida" received top honors from the National Outdoors Book Awards. Other books he wrote have won regional honors, including ''The Peace of Blue'', winner of the Silver Medal in the prestigious Florida Book Awards. His book ''River of Lakes: A Journey on Florida's St. Johns River'' covers the 275 mile long

St. Johns River The St. Johns River ( es, Río San Juan) is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant one for commercial and recreational use. At long, it flows north and winds through or borders twelve counties. The drop in eleva ...

. His extensive web site documented many of his activities. ''In Search of Xanadu'', shown on public television, follows Belleville on visits to various locations. His other work on documentaries included: "In Marjorie's Wake: Rediscovering Rawlings, a River & Time" National PBS release 2009-2010. (Co-produced & scripted), "Searching for Xanadu" Florida PBS Affiliates (co-produced and scripted), "Conch Cowboys" (Florida PBS Affiliates. co-produced and scripted), and "Wekiva: Legacy or Loss?" Florida PBS Affiliates (co-produced and scripted) He was a co-founder of Equinox Documentaries,EquinoxDocumentaries.org a nonprofit

501 (c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

organization dedicated to using films and related media for environmental education.

Education and early career

He attended Wicomico Sr. High School in

Salisbury, Maryland Salisbury () is a city in and the county seat of Wicomico County, Maryland, Wicomico County, Maryland, United States, and the largest city in Eastern Shore of Maryland, the state's Eastern Shore region. The population was 33,050 at the 2020 United ...

where he was an all-conference football player and ran track. He also attended Wesley College,

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

, and University of Baltimore. Belleville was a school social worker (SSA) in Baltimore City Public School System for two years.

Other activities

He was a scuba diver. He volunteered with literacy programs and environmental groups. He was Writer-in-Residence during the 2004-2005 school year at the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

in its Florida Studies program.

Works

* "The Peace of Blue: Water Journeys" * "Salvaging the Real Florida: Lost & Found in the State of Dreams". 92,000 word anthology. UPF. early 2011. (cloth and paper) * "Deep Cuba: The Inside Story of an American Oceanographic Expedition (University of Georgia Press. 2002) University of Georgia Press * "Sunken Cities, Sacred Cenotes and Golden Sharks: Travels of a Water-Bound Adventurer", A collection of adventure-travel essays, articles and narrative essays * "Losing it All to Sprawl: How Progress Ate my Cracker Landscape" (University Press of Florida. Spring 2006) * "River of Lakes: A Journey on Florida’s St. Johns River" (University of Georgia Press 2000) * "Rediscovering Rawlings, a River and Time: Filming In Marjorie's Wake on Florida's St. Johns River", a companion to the national PBS documentary "In Marjorie's Wake" *''River of Lakes: A Journey on Florida's St. Johns River'' (University of Georgia Press. )

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belleville, Bill Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Wesley College (Delaware) alumni University of Maryland Eastern Shore alumni University of Baltimore alumni American non-fiction environmental writers