Daniel Hosler O'Brien (born November 23, 1947, in
Findlay, Ohio
Findlay ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hancock County, Ohio, United States. The second-largest city in Northwest Ohio, Findlay lies about 40 miles (64 km) south of Toledo. The population was 40,313 at the 2020 census. It is home ...
) is an American author, wildlife biologist, and rancher.
Biography
Dan O'Brien was born in
Findlay, Ohio
Findlay ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hancock County, Ohio, United States. The second-largest city in Northwest Ohio, Findlay lies about 40 miles (64 km) south of Toledo. The population was 40,313 at the 2020 census. It is home ...
, on November 23, 1947. He attended
Findlay High School
Findlay High School is a public high school in Findlay, Ohio. It is the only high school in the Findlay City School District, and the second largest high school in northwest Ohio. Their nickname is the Trojans. They are members of the Three River ...
and graduated in 1966. He went to
Michigan Technological University to play football and graduated with a BS degree in Math and Business from
Findlay College
The University of Findlay (UF) is a private Christian university in Findlay, Ohio. It was established in 1882 through a joint partnership between the Churches of God General Conference and the city of Findlay. UF has nearly 80 undergraduate ...
in 1970 where he was the chairman of the first campus Earth Day. He earned an MA in English Literature from the
University of South Dakota
The University of South Dakota (USD) is a public research university in Vermillion, South Dakota. Established by the Dakota Territory legislature in 1862, 27 years before the establishment of the state of South Dakota, USD is the flagship uni ...
in 1973 where he studied under
Frederick Manfred
Frederick Feikema Manfred (January 6, 1912 – September 7, 1994) was an American writer of Westerns, very much connected to his native region: the American Midwest, and the prairies of the West. He named the area where the borders of Minnesota, ...
. He earned an MFA from
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...
in 1974, worked as a biologist and wrote for a few years before entering the PhD program at
Denver University
The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral U ...
. When he won the prestigious Iowa Short Fiction in 1986 he gave up academics except for occasional short term teaching jobs. O'Brien continued to write and work as an endangered species biologist for the South Dakota Department of Game Fish and Parks and later the
Peregrine Fund. In the late 1990s, he began to convert his small cattle ranch in
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...
to a buffalo ranch. In 2001, he founded Wild Idea Buffalo Company and Sustainable Harvest Alliance to produce large landscape, grass-fed and field-harvest buffalo to supply high quality and sustainable buffalo meat to people interested in human health and the health of the
American Great Plains. He now raises buffalo and lives on the
Cheyenne River Ranch in
western South Dakota with his wife Jill. Dan O'Brien is the winner of the
Iowa Short Fiction Award
The Iowa Short Fiction Award is an annual award given for a first collection of short fiction. It has been described as "a respected prize" by the ''Chicago Tribune'', and ''The New York Times'' considered it "among the most prestigious literary p ...
, two National Endowment for the Arts Grants for fiction, A Bush Foundation Award for writing, a Spur Award, two Wrangler Awards from the National cowboy Hall of Fame, and an honorary PhD from the University of South Dakota. His books have been translated into seven foreign languages and his essays, reviews, and short stories have been published in many periodicals including,
Redbook,
New York Times Magazine,
FYI. New York Times Book Review.
O'Brien appeared in the 2023
Ken Burns documentary ''The American Buffalo''.
[https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-american-buffalo/about-the-filmmakers]
Bibliography
Short fiction
* Eminent Domain, 1987
Novels
* ''
Spirit of the Hills'', 1988
* ''In the Center of the Nation'', 1991
* ''Brendan Prairie'', 1996
* ''The Contract Surgeon: A Novel'', 1999
* ''The Indian Agent: A Novel'', 2004
* ''Stolen Horses'', 2010
Memoirs
* ''The Rites of Autumn: a Falconer's Journey Across the American West'', 1988
* ''Equinox: Life, Loves, and Birds of Prey'', 1997
* ''Buffalo for The Broken Heart'', 2001
* ''Wild Idea: Buffalo and Family in a Difficult Land'', 2014
Essays
* Great Plains (with Michael Forsberg), 2009
*Great Plains Bison, 2017
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Dan
Living people
1947 births
People from Findlay, Ohio
People from South Dakota
20th-century American novelists
21st-century American novelists
American male novelists
American autobiographers
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American male non-fiction writers
Bowling Green State University alumni
Findlay High School alumni