Wikipedia

David Quammen

David Quammen (born February 24, 1948) is an American writer focusing on science, nature, and travel. He is the author of fifteen books. Quammen's articles have appeared in Outside, National Geographic, Harper's Magazine, Rolling Stone, The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, and other periodicals. He is also a science communicator.[2]

David Quammen
Born (1948-02-24) February 24, 1948 (age 76)
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Alma mater
GenreNon-fiction
SpouseBetsy Gaines Quammen
Website
davidquammen.com

A collection of Quammen's drafts, research, and correspondence is housed in Texas Tech University's Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library. The collection consists of approximately 63 boxes of publicly available literary production, artifacts, maps, and other papers dated from 1856–2014.[3]

Early life and education

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David Quammen was born on February 24, 1948, to W.A. and Mary Quammen.[4] He was raised in the suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio, and graduated from St. Xavier High School in 1966. He attended and graduated from Yale University. In 1970 he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, enabling him to study at University of Oxford.

During his graduate work at Oxford, he studied literature, concentrating on the works of American writer William Faulkner. After completing his education and publishing his first novel, he relocated to Bozeman, Montana. He has continued to live there with his wife, Betsy (Gaines) Quammen,[5] a conservation activist.[4]

Career

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In the early 1970s, Quammen moved to Montana for trout fishing. In 1983, he finished The Soul of Viktor Tronko, a spy novel based on Russian historical events. A year later, the story collection Blood Line: Stories of Fathers and Sons was published. Following the commercial failure of his fictional works, Quammen began transitioning into a nonfiction writer.[6]

In 1981, Quammen began writing columns for Outside Magazine, and continued for fifteen years. Some of the columns from Outside Magazine and others contributed to Quammen's nonfiction books: Natural Acts (1985), The Flight of the Iguana (1988), Wild Thoughts from Wild Places (1998), and The Boilerplate Rhino (2000).[7]

Later in 1999, Quammen began to write a series of three stories following J. Michael Fay's 2000-mile hike through Central Africa for National Geographic. During this time, Quammen walked with Fay for eight weeks along African river basins. Quammen continued working with National Geographic, holding a Contributing Writer position, producing cover stories like "Was Darwin Wrong?" and "The Short Happy Life of a Serengeti Lion."[8]

From 2007 to 2009, Quammen was employed as the Wallace Stegner Professor of Western American Studies at Montana State University. Quammen received honorary doctorates from Montana State University and Colorado College. For his work, Quammen was awarded with a Rhodes Scholarship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Lannan Literary Award for nonfiction.[9]

His book Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic (2012) received two awards: the Science and Society Book Award, given by the National Association of Science Writers, and the Society of Biology (UK) Book Award in General Biology. In 2013, Spillover was shortlisted for the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award.[10] The Song of the Dodo (Scribner, 1996), a study of the bird's extinction won the John Burroughs Medal for nature writing.[11]

Books

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Non-fiction

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External videos
  In Depth interview with Quammen, June 4, 2023, C-SPAN
  Presentation by Quammen on Monster of God, September 30, 2003, C-SPAN
  Presentation by Quammen on Spillover, October 12, 2012, C-SPAN
  Presentation by Quammen on The Tangled Tree, September 11, 2018, C-SPAN
  Presentation by Quammen on Breathless, October 25, 2022, C-SPAN
  Presentation by Quammen on Breathless, February 18, 2023, C-SPAN
  • Quammen, David. Natural Acts: a Sidelong View of Science and Nature. New York: Schocken Books, 1985.
  • Quammen, David. The Flight of the Iguana: a Sidelong View of Science and Nature. New York: Delacorte Press, 1988.
  • Quammen, David. "Miracle of the Geese." Words from the Land: Encounters with Natural History Writing. Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith Books, 1988.
  • Quammen, David. The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions. New York: Scribner, 1996.
  • Quammen, David. Wild Thoughts From Wild Places. New York: Scribner, 1999.
  • Quammen, David, ed. Best American Science and Nature Writing. Boston: Mariner Books, 2000.
  • Quammen, David. The Boilerplate Rhino: Nature in the Eye of the Beholder. New York: Scribner, 2001.
  • Quammen, David. Monster of God: The Man-Eating Predator in the Jungles of History and the Mind. New York, W. W. Norton, 2003.
  • Quammen, David. Alexis Rockman. New York: Monacelli Press, 2004.
  • Quammen, David. The Reluctant Mr. Darwin: An Intimate Portrait of Charles Darwin and the Making of His Theory of Evolution. New York: W. W. Norton, 2006.
  • Quammen, David. The Kiwi's Egg: Charles Darwin and Natural Selection. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2007.
  • Quammen, David. Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic. New York: Norton, 2012. ISBN 978-0-393-06680-7
  • Quammen, David. Ebola: The Natural and Human History of a Deadly Virus. New York: Norton, 2014.
  • Quammen, David. The Chimp and the River: How AIDS emerged from an African Forest. New York: Norton, 2015.
  • Quammen, David. Yellowstone: A Journey Through America's Wild Heart. National Geographic, 2016.
  • Quammen, David. The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2019.
  • Quammen, David. Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2022.

Fiction

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  • Quammen, David. "Walking Out,'" short story, 1980.[12]
  • Quammen, David. The Zolta Configuration. New York: Doubleday Books, 1983.
  • Quammen, David. To Walk the Line. New York: Pocket Books, 1985.
  • Quammen, David. The Soul of Viktor Tronko. New York: Dell,1987.
  • Quammen, David. Blood Line: Stories of Father and Sons. Boulder: Johnson Books, 1988.

Awards and accolades

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "How Rhodes Scholars Think: Interview with David Quammen", rhodesscholars.wordpress.com, October 17, 2007
  2. ^ "Quammen, David" (in Italian).
  3. ^ "Texas Tech University :: Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library". swco.ttu.edu. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  4. ^ a b "Quammen, David 1948- | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  5. ^ "David Quammen fiction and non-fictions science writer. Author of Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic". www.davidquammen.com. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
  6. ^ "David Quammen's Biography". www.davidquammen.com. 19 March 2013. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  7. ^ "David Quammen's Biography". www.davidquammen.com. 19 March 2013. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  8. ^ "David Quammen's Biography". www.davidquammen.com. 19 March 2013. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  9. ^ "David Quammen's Biography". www.davidquammen.com. 19 March 2013. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  10. ^ "PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award ($10,000) - PEN America". Archived from the original on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  11. ^ "Texas Tech University :: Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library". swco.ttu.edu. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  12. ^ "Texas Tech University :: Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library". swco.ttu.edu. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
  13. ^ "Rhodes Scholars: Complete List, 1903-2013 - The Rhodes Scholarships". 6 November 2013. Archived from the original on 6 November 2013. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  14. ^ a b c "Winners and Finalists Database - ASME". www.magazine.org. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  15. ^ "All Fellows - John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation". Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  16. ^ American Academy of Arts and Letters – Award Winners Archived 2008-10-13 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ Bp Natural World Book Prize Archived 2012-10-25 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ "Past Winners of The New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism". The New York Public Library. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  19. ^ "Lannan Foundation". Lannan Foundation. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  20. ^ "JBA Medal Award List". research.amnh.org. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  21. ^ MSU News Service – New Stegner professor to hit the ground running Archived 2007-08-20 at the Wayback Machine
  22. ^ PEN American Center – 2001 Winners Archived 2012-06-26 at the Wayback Machine
  23. ^ "Recipients • Academic Events Committee Colorado College". www.coloradocollege.edu. Archived from the original on 18 March 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  24. ^ "Society for the Study of Evolution". www.evolutionsociety.org. Archived from the original on 22 September 2013. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  25. ^ Bill Ott (June 30, 2013). Richard Ford and Timothy Egan Win Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction. Retrieved March 17, 2014 – via Booklist.
  26. ^ Annalisa Pesek (July 3, 2013). "2013 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction". Library Journal. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
  27. ^ "ALA Unveils 2013 Finalists for Andrew Carnegie Medals". Publishers Weekly. April 22, 2013. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
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