Jerry Dennis (born 1954) is an American writer of nonfiction and short fiction. He is known for writing about the effect of human culture on the natural environment.

Early life and education

Dennis was born in

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. At the 2020 census, Flint had a population of 8 ...

and grew up in rural northern Michigan. Dennis received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

in 1981, after attending

Northern Michigan University Northern Michigan University (Northern Michigan, Northern or NMU) is a public university in Marquette, Michigan. It was established in 1899 by the Michigan Legislature as Northern State Normal School. In 1963, the state designated Northern a uni ...

and

Northwestern Michigan College Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) is a public community college in Traverse City, Michigan. Founded in 1951, it enrolls nearly 4,000 students. NMC offers associate degrees and professional certificates, bachelor's degrees through the Great La ...

Career

After graduating Dennis worked as a carpenter for five years while establishing himself as a book author and magazine writer. He has written articles for more than 100 publications, including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', '' Smithsonian'', ''

Audubon The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organ ...

'', ''

Sports Afield ''Sports Afield'' (SA) is an American outdoor magazine headquartered in Huntington Beach, California. Founded in 1887 by Claude King as a hunting and fishing magazine, it is the oldest published outdoor magazine in North America. The first issue, ...

'', ''

Field and Stream ''Field & Stream'' (''F&S'' for short) is an American online magazine focusing on hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities. The magazine was a print publication between 1895 and 2015 and became an online-only publication from 2020. History ...

'', ''

American Way The American way of life or the American way refers to the American nationalist ethos that adheres to the principle of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. At the center of the American way is the belief in an American Dream that is clai ...

,'' and the literary magazines ''Epoch'', ''Witness'', ''

Mid-American Review ''Mid-American Review'' (''MAR'') is an international literary journal dedicated to publishing contemporary fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and translations. Founded in 1981, ''MAR'' is a publication of the Department of English and the College of Ar ...

'', ''Pank,'' and ''Michigan Quarterly Review''. Throughout the 1990s he wrote regular columns for ''Wildlife Conservation Magazine'', the publication of Wildlife Conservation International and the Bronx Zoo, and ''Canoe and Kayak Magazine''. Journalistic assignments sent him to Iceland, Chile, and extensively throughout the U.S. and Canada. Since 2000 he has been on the faculty of the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

's Bear River Writers Conference, where he teaches creative non-fiction and

nature writing Nature writing is nonfiction or fiction prose or poetry about the natural environment. Nature writing encompasses a wide variety of works, ranging from those that place primary emphasis on natural history facts (such as field guides) to those in w ...

. As of 2014, he is the author of ten books. In 2015 his best known book is ''The Living Great Lakes'', about his trip around the great lakes in a rickety ship. This book appeared on the Michigan Bestseller Book List for October, 2014. In 2014, in response to a pricing dispute between his publisher,

MacMillan Press Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains off ...

, and

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

, Dennis set up his own publishing house, Big Maple Press, to produce books which will be sold only through independent booksellers.

Books

* ''Canoeing Michigan Rivers'' Thunder Bay Press (1986, 2001, 2013) * ''The Best Bicycle Tours of Eastern Canada'' (1992) * ''It's Raining Frogs and Fishes'' HarperCollins (1992, 2013) * ''A Place on the Water'' Macmillan (1993, 2013) * ''The Bird in the Waterfall'' HarperCollins (1996, 2014) * ''The River Home'' Macmillan (1998, 2013) * ''From a Wooden Canoe'' Macmillan (1999, 2014) * ''Leelanau: A Portrait of Place'' (2000) * ''Up North in Michigan'' (2021) * ''The Living Great Lakes'' Macmillan (2004) * ''The Windward Shore'' University of Michigan Press (2011)

Awards and honors

* 2004 Michigan Notable Books * 2004 Sigurd Olsen Nature Writing Award * 2004 Great Lakes Culture Best Book Award Non-Fiction * 2004 The Stuart D. and Vernice M. Gross Award for Literature * 2003 Alumni Fellows Award, University of Louisville, College of Arts and Sciences * 1999 Michigan Author of the Year * 1993, 1996, 1998, and 2003 Best Book of the Year awarded by Outdoor Writers Association of America.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dennis, Jerry 1954 births American non-fiction environmental writers Living people