Kenneth J. Lamberton (born November 8, 1958) is an American writer and former teacher. Born in

Duluth, Minnesota , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

, Lamberton attended the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

, where he received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in biology and a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

in creative writing. He was working as a science teacher in

Mesa, Arizona Mesa ( ) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is the most populous city in the East Valley (Phoenix metropolitan area), East Valley section of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It is bordered by ...

in 1985 when he was awarded a

Teacher of the Year The National Teacher of the Year is a professional award in the United States. The program began in 1952, as a project by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), and aims to reward excellence in teaching. It is sponsored by ING. Se ...

award. A few months later, the then 28-year-old Lamberton was arrested for

child molestation Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (wheth ...

for having an affair with a 14-year-old student and transporting her across state lines. During his twelve-year prison term at the Santa Rita unit of the Arizona State Prison Complex at Tucson, he participated in a creative writing program run by Richard Shelton and became a writer, penning essays for the prison magazine ''La Roca''. After his release on September 25, 2000, he began to publish non-fiction books and articles on natural history and crime and punishment in the Southwest. Lamberton has published four books since 2000 and written hundreds of essays and articles. His first book, ''Wilderness and Razor Wire: A Naturalist's Observations from Prison'', received critical acclaim from the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'' which felt it was "....entirely original: an edgy, ferocious, subtly complex collection of essays...". It won the 2002

John Burroughs Medal The John Burroughs Medal, named for nature writer John Burroughs (1837–1921), is awarded each year in April by the John Burroughs Association to the author of a book that the association has judged to be distinguished in the field of natural hist ...

for nature writing. In 2007, Lamberton was awarded a Soros (the millionaire known for personally funding the education of black university students in Cape Town, South Africa, during apartheid) Justice Fellowship by the

Open Society Institute Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the world, with a sta ...

to complete his fourth book, ''Time of Grace: Thoughts on Nature, Family, and the Politics of Crime and Punishment''. Lamberton has published more than 100 science and nature articles in national magazines, as a part of his experience in prison and trying to forget about this period of his life. Lamberton has achieved relative success with his books and is generating interest in literary circles.Song
Retrieved on 08 Jan 2018

Bibliography

* ''Wilderness and Razor Wire: A Naturalist's Observations from Prison''. Mercury House:

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, 2000. * ''Beyond Desert Walls: Essays from Prison''. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2005. * ''Time of Grace: Thoughts on Nature, Family and the Politics of Crime and Punishment''. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2007. * ''Chiricahua Mountains: Bridging the Borders of Wildness''. Photography by Jeff Garton. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2003. * ''Chasing Arizona: One Man's Yearlong Obsession with the Grand Canyon State''.University of Arizona Press, 2015. * ''Dry River : Stories of Life, Death, and Redemption on the Santa Cruz''University of Arizona Press, 2011.

References

External links

Ken Lamberton website

Kenneth J. Lamberton
at the

Arizona Department of Corrections The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry, commonly and formerly referred to as simply the Arizona Department of Corrections, is the statutory law enforcement agency responsible for the incarceration of inmates in 13 prisons ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lamberton, Ken 1958 births Living people American magazine editors American people convicted of child sexual abuse Schoolteachers from Arizona American male non-fiction writers John Burroughs Medal recipients University of Arizona alumni Writers from Arizona