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Peter Heller
New York Times Bestselling Author of The Dog Stars, Celine, The Painter, and The River (Penguin Random House)
Peter Heller is a national best-selling novelist and a distinguished journalist known for his vivid descriptions of the natural world. He is the author of several acclaimed novels published by Penguin Random House, including The Dog Stars, which became a breakout international success published in twenty-two languages, and The River. His novel The Painter was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and won the Reading the West Book Award, joining the ranks of previous winners like Cormac McCarthy.
Heller’s background is rooted in high-stakes journalism and poetry, holding an MFA from the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He is a longtime contributor to NPR and Bloomberg Businessweek, and serves as a contributing editor at Outside Magazine, Men’s Journal, and National Geographic Adventure. In addition to his fiction, he has authored four nonfiction books, including Kook, an exploration of surfing that received the National Outdoor Book Award for Literature. He currently resides in Denver, Colorado, where his passion for the outdoors continues to inform his narrative style.
Keynote Lecture Topics
- Extreme Environmental Journalism
- Translating Real-Life Adventures to Words
- The Craft of Writing: Fiction & Nonfiction
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Testimonials:
“Peter Heller is, hands down, one of our all-time favorite authors who has ascended the National Writers Series stage. So popular, in fact, that he is one of the few authors we’ve invited back a second time. Peter is an engaging speaker with an infectious laugh, a quick wit and a gregarious heart with exciting tales to tell. When you hear of his extreme adventures whether shooting the rapids or saving dolphins, you’ll aspire to be just like him … if only you could.” —Anne Stanton, Executive Director, National Writers Series
Peter Heller travels from Denver, CO.
Books
Praise for The River
National Bestseller
“Utter joy… A suspenseful tale told with glorious drama and lyrical flair.”
Praise for Celine
National Bestseller
“Ingenious… Like Mark Twain and Toni Morrison, Heller is a rare talent… It’s as if Heller took the tender yet tough-as-nails personality of writer Annie Proulx and cast her on the page, in all her plainspoken, intellectually impeccable, deeply wise—and wise-ass—glory.”
Praise for The Painter
National Bestseller
“Heller’s writing is sure-footed and rip-roaring, star-bright and laced with ‘dark yearning,’ coalescing in an ever-escalating, ravishing, grandly engrossing and satisfying tale of righteousness and revenge, artistic fervor and moral ambiguity.””
Praise for The Dog Stars
The New York Times Bestseller
“Extraordinary. . . . One of those books that makes you happy for literature.”