David Quammen is a freelance journalist and author who travels widely on assignment, usually to jungles, deserts, and swamps. He is a Contributing Writer for National Geographic, for whom he wrote the “Megatransect” series (2000-2001), about Mike Fay’s epic walk across Africa, and the 2004 cover story, “Was Darwin Wrong?,” which won the National Magazine Award for essays in 2005. Quammen writes occasionally also for other magazines, such as Harper’s and The New York Times Book Review. His short works have appeared in a number of anthologies, including The Best American Essays 1999 (edited by Edward Hoagland), The Best American Travel Writing 2001 (edited by Paul Theroux), The Best American Science Writing 2005 (edited by Alan Lightman), and The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2008 (edited by Jerome Groopman). He served as guest editor of The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2000.
Quammen’s books include three novels, four essay collections, and the nonfiction titles The Song of the Dodo, Monster of God, and The Reluctant Mr. Darwin. His earliest collection, Natural Acts, has lately been released in a revised and expanded edition. He’s also general editor of On the Origin of Species: The Illustrated Edition, a decorative reissuse of Charles Darwin’s great work, published in October 2008.
Quammen has received an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a John Burroughs Medal for nature writing, and (three times) the National Magazine Award, among other recognitions. He presently holds the Wallace Stegner Chair of Western American Studies at Montana State University. He lives on the south side of Bozeman, Montana, with his wife Betsy Gaines (a conservationist), two large white dogs, and a low-maintenance cat named Skipper.
QUAMMEN BOOKS:To Walk the Line (novel) Knopf, 1970
The Zolta Configuration (novel) Doubleday, 1983
Natural Acts (essays) Nick Lyons Books, 1985
The Soul of Viktor Tronko (novel) Doubleday, 1987
Blood Line (short fiction) Graywolf, 1988
The Flight of the Iguana (essays) Delacorte, 1988
The Song of the Dodo (nonfiction) Scribner, 1996
Wild Thoughts from Wild Places (essays) Scribner, 1998
The Boilerplate Rhino (essays) Scribner, 2000
Monster of God (nonfiction) W.W. Norton, 2003
The Reluctant Mr. Darwin (biography) W.W. Norton, 2006
Natural Acts (revised and expanded) W.W. Norton, 2008
On the Origin of Species: The Illustrated Edition, text by Charles Darwin (DQ as general editor) Sterling, 2008