Richard Conniff
Encyclopedia
Richard Conniff is an America
n non-fiction writer
, specializing in behavior on two, four, six, and eight legs. He has collected tarantulas in the Peruvian Amazon
, tracked leopards with Kung San hunters in the Namibia
n desert, climbed the Mountains of the Moon
in western Uganda
, and trekked through the Himalayas
of Bhutan in pursuit of tigers and the mythical migur. The New York Times Book Review says,
He lives in Old Lyme, Connecticut
.
, Smithsonian
, Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine
, National Geographic, Audubon Magazine, Yale Environment 360, and other publications in the United States
and abroad. His magazine work in Smithsonian won the 1997 National Magazine Award, and was included in The Best American Science and Nature Writing in 2000, 2002, and 2006. Conniff is also the winner of the 2001 John Burroughs Award for Outstanding Nature Essay of the Year, a 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship
, and a 2009 Loeb Journalism Award.
Conniff has been a frequent commentator on NPR
and serves as an occasional guest columnist for The New York Times
online. He has written and presented television shows for National Geographic Channel
, TBS
, Animal Planet
, the BBC
, and Channel Four in the UK. His television work has been nominated for an Emmy Award for distinguished achievement in writing, and he won the 1998 Wildscreen Prize for Best Natural History Television Script for the BBC show Between Pacific Tides.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
n non-fiction writer
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, specializing in behavior on two, four, six, and eight legs. He has collected tarantulas in the Peruvian Amazon
Peruvian Amazon
The Peruvian Amazon is the area of the Amazon jungle included in the territory of Peru, from the east of the Andes to borders with Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil and Bolivia. This region comprises 60% of the country and is marked by a large degree of biodiversity...
, tracked leopards with Kung San hunters in the Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
n desert, climbed the Mountains of the Moon
Mountains of the Moon (Africa)
The term Mountains of the Moon or Montes Lunae referred to a mountain range in central Africa that is the source of the White Nile.- Ancient testimony :...
in western Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
, and trekked through the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
of Bhutan in pursuit of tigers and the mythical migur. The New York Times Book Review says,
Conniff is a splendid writer--fresh, clear, uncondescending, and with never a false step; one can't resist quoting him.
He lives in Old Lyme, Connecticut
Old Lyme, Connecticut
Old Lyme is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The Main Street of the town is a historic district. The town has long been a popular summer resort and artists' colony...
.
Career
Conniff also writes about wildlife, human cultures and other topics for TimeTime (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, Smithsonian
Smithsonian (magazine)
Smithsonian is the official journal published by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The first issue was published in 1970.-History:...
, Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine
The New York Times Magazine
The New York Times Magazine is a Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of The New York Times. It is host to feature articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors...
, National Geographic, Audubon Magazine, Yale Environment 360, and other publications in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and abroad. His magazine work in Smithsonian won the 1997 National Magazine Award, and was included in The Best American Science and Nature Writing in 2000, 2002, and 2006. Conniff is also the winner of the 2001 John Burroughs Award for Outstanding Nature Essay of the Year, a 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
, and a 2009 Loeb Journalism Award.
Conniff has been a frequent commentator on NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
and serves as an occasional guest columnist for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
online. He has written and presented television shows for National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...
, TBS
TBS (TV channel)
TBS , stylized in the logo as tbs, is an American cable television channel owned by Time Warner that shows a variety of programming, with a focus on comedy. TBS was originally known as WTCG, a UHF terrestrial television station that broadcast from Atlanta, Georgia, during the late 1970s...
, Animal Planet
Animal Planet
Animal Planet is an American cable tv specialty channel that launched on October 1, 1996. It is distributed by Discovery Communications. A high-definition simulcast of the channel launched on September 1, 2007.-History:...
, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, and Channel Four in the UK. His television work has been nominated for an Emmy Award for distinguished achievement in writing, and he won the 1998 Wildscreen Prize for Best Natural History Television Script for the BBC show Between Pacific Tides.
Honors and awards
- 1997 National Magazine Award
- Best American Science and Nature Writing (2000, 2002, and 2006)The Best American Science and Nature WritingThe Best American Science and Nature Writing is a yearly anthology of popular science magazine articles published in the United States. It was started in 2000 and is part of The Best American Series published by Houghton Mifflin...
- 2001 John BurroughsJohn BurroughsJohn Burroughs was an American naturalist and essayist important in the evolution of the U.S. conservation movement. According to biographers at the American Memory project at the Library of Congress,...
Award for Outstanding Nature Essay of the Year - 2007 Guggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
- 2009 Loeb Award
Books
- Rats!: the good, the bad, and the ugly, Crown Publishers, 2002, ISBN 9780375912078
- Every Creeping Thing: True Trales of Faintly Repulsive Wildlife, (Henry Holt, 1998) ISBN 9780805056976
- Spineless Wonders: Strange Tales from the Invertebrate World (Henry Holt, 1996) ISBN 9780805042184
Selected Magazine Articles
- TIME: Head Man in the Boneyard (1990)
- TIME: Water Marketing A Deal That Might Save A Sierra (1989)
- The Atlantic: Darwin's Revenge (2008)
- The Atlantic: Heart of Darwin (2008)
- New York Times: Abolish All 'Taxes' (op-ed, 2008)