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 to ...

) is an American author, wildlife biologist, and rancher.

Biography

Dan O'Brien was born in

, 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 Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech, MTU, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Houghton, Michigan, founded in 1885 as the Michigan Mining School, the first post-secondary institution in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. ...

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 p ...

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 univ ...

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 university, 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 ...

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 Univ ...

. 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 The Peregrine Fund (named after the bird of prey of the same name the peregrine falcon) is a non-profit organization founded in 1970 that conserves threatened and endangered birds of prey worldwide. The successful recovery of the peregrine falcon ...

. In the late 1990s, he began to convert his small cattle ranch in

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

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 The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, step ...

. He now raises buffalo and lives on the

Cheyenne River Ranch The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enro ...

western South Dakota Western may refer to: Places * Western, Nebraska, a village in the US * Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia * Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia * Western world, countries th ...

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 ...

, 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 ''Redbook'' is an American women's magazine that is published by the Hearst Corporation. It is one of the " Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines. It ceased print publication as of January 2019 and now operates an article-compris ...

New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

FYI "FYI" is a common abbreviation of "for your information" (or "for your interest"). "FYI" is commonly used in email, instant messaging and other messages to indicate an informational message, with an intent to communicate to the receiver that they ...

. New York Times Book Review. O'Brien appeared in the 2023

Ken Burns Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary film, documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle United States, American History of the United States, history and Culture of the ...

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 {{Infobox book , image = Spirit of the Hills.jpg , , caption = First edition , name = Spirit of the Hills , author = Dan O'Brien (author) , country = United States , language = English , genre = ...

'', 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