William Dietrich is an American novelist, non-fiction writer, journalist, and college professor. His

historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other t ...

s and thrillers have made

bestseller A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, co ...

lists and his Ethan Gage series, set during the

Napoleonic wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...

, have sold in 28 languages. He has also written novels set in the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

, Antarctica, and Australia. His non-fiction works are natural history and

environmental history Environmental history is the study of human interaction with the natural world over time, emphasising the active role nature plays in influencing human affairs and vice versa. Environmental history first emerged in the United States out of th ...

of the Pacific Northwest. Dietrich was born and raised in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...

, and attended Fairhaven College at

Western Washington University Western Washington University (WWU or Western) is a public university in Bellingham, Washington. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, succeeding a pri ...

, graduating with a degree in journalism. He worked for several Pacific Northwest newspapers and Gannett News Service. While at ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington ...

'', he covered the 1989

Exxon Valdez oil spill The ''Exxon Valdez'' oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989. '' Exxon Valdez'', an oil supertanker owned by Exxon Shipping Company bound for Long Beach, California struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef, w ...

, and shared the

Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on national affairs in the United States. In its first six years (1942–1947), it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic Reporting – National. Li ...

with three other ''Times'' journalists."National Reporting"
The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2013-11-01. He was a Nieman Fellow at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

(1987–88) and won National Science Foundation fellowships to Antarctica in 1994 and 1996. He reported extensively on science and the environment. His first book, ''The Final Forest'', depicted the old growth and spotted owl battle in Forks, Washington. The book won the Washington Governor Writer's Award and Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award. He wrote a book on the Columbia River, ''Northwest Passage'', a book on Northwest plants and animals, ''Natural Grace'', and did the text for a pictorial book by photographer Art Wolfe, ''On Puget Sound''. His first novel, the World War II adventure ''Ice Reich'', grew out of his reporting in Antarctica. This was followed by ''Getting Back'', an eco-fable set in Australia, ''Dark Winter'', a thriller at the South Pole, and ''Hadrian's Wall'' and ''The Scourge of God'', set during the Roman empire. Most recent are the Ethan Gage series of novels: ''Napoleon's Pyramids'', ''The Rosetta Key'', ''The Dakota Cipher'', ''The Barbary Pirates'', and ''The Emerald Storm''. Since 2006 he has been a professor of environmental journalism and writing at Huxley College of the Environment at

, where he advises Planet magazine. He currently lives in

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a U.S. state, state in the Northwestern United States, Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first President of the United States, U.S. p ...

with his wife Holly. He has two grown daughters.

Books

Standalone novels

* ''Ice Reich'' (1998) * ''Getting Back'' (2000) * ''Dark Winter'' (2001) * ''Hadrian's Wall'' (2004) * ''The Scourge of God'' (2005) * ''Blood of the Reich'' (2011) * ''The Murder of Adam and Eve'' (2014)

Ethan Gage adventures

# ''Napoleon's Pyramids'' (2007) # ''The Rosetta Key'' (2008) # ''The Dakota Cipher'' (2009) # ''The Barbary Pirates'' (2010) # ''The Emerald Storm'' (2012) # ''The Barbed Crown'' (2013) # ''The Three Emperors'' (2014) # ''The Trojan Icon'' (2016)

Non-fiction

* ''The Final Forest: The Battle for the Last Great Trees of the Pacific Northwest'' (Simon & Schuster, 1992) ** ''The Final Forest: Big Trees, Forks, and the Pacific Northwest'' (University of Washington Press, 2010), with a new preface and afterword * ''Northwest Passage: The Great Columbia River'' (Simon & Schuster, 1995) * ''Natural Grace: The Charm, Wonder, and Lessons of Pacific Northwest Animals and Plants'' (University of Washington Press, 2003), drawings by Brenda Cunningham * ''On Puget Sound'' (Sasquatch Books, 2007), by Art Wolfe with Philip Kramer, text by Dietrich—pictorial work * ''Natural Skagit: A Journey from Mountains to Sea'' (Skagit Land Trust, 2008), collection with foreword by Tom Robbins, epilogue by Bill Dietrich * ''Critical Messages: Contemporary Northwest Artists on the Environment'', Sarah Clark-Langager and Dietrich (Western Washington University and others, 2010); —catalog of a 2010–2011 exhibition

References

* *

External links

*
William Dietrich Bio
from Bookreporter.com, accessed January 1, 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Dietrich, William American historical novelists American male journalists American naturalists Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting winners Western Washington University alumni Novelists from Washington (state) Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male novelists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Year of birth missing (living people)