Author Bio
• Birth—December 7, 1964
• Where—Torrington, Wyoming, USA
• Education—B.A., Georgetown University; J.D., Cornell University
• Currently—lives in Missoula, Montana
Michael Punke is a writer, novelist, professor, policy analyst, policy consultant, attorney and currently the Deputy United States Trade Representative and US Ambassador to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.
He is best known for writing The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge (2002), which was adapted into film in 2015, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy.
Early life and education
The son of Butch Punke, a high school biology teacher and Marilyn Punke, Michael Punke grew up in Torrington, Wyoming with a younger brother named Tim and a sister named Amy, where they all engaged in various outdoor activities in the wilderness like fishing, hunting, hiking, shooting, and mountain biking
As a teenager, he spent at least three summers working at the Fort Laramie National Historic Site working as a "living history interpreter." He was also a debate team champion in high school, which he graduated early from to attend the University of Massachusetts Amherst, later transferring to George Washington University, where he graduated with a degree in International Affairs. He later attended and received his law degree from Cornell Law School, where he focused on trade law. He was elected Editor-in-Chief of the Cornell International Law Journal.
Career
After receiving his law degree, Punke worked in the 1990s as a government staffer for Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana). Specifically, from 1991-92, Punke served as International Trade Counsel to Baucus, who was also then Chairman of the National Finance Committee's International Trade Subcommittee. While working for Baucus, Punke met his wife Traci.
During 1993-95, Punke served at the White House as Director for International Economic Affairs and was jointly appointed to the National Economic Council and the National Security Council.
In 1995-96, Punke became a Senior Policy Advisor at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, where he advised on issues ranging from intellectual property law to trade and agricultural law. He also worked on international trade issues from the private sector, including as a partner at the Washington, D.C., office of Mayer, Brown, Rowe, & Maw. From 2003 to 2009, Punke consulted on public policy issues out of Missoula, Montana.
In 2009, President Barack Obama elected Punke to currently serve as the Deputy U.S. Trade Representative and U.S. Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland. Obama's election of Punke for this position was also confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2011.
Writing
Punke is the author of The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge, which was published in 2002.
He allegedly came up with the idea for the novel after reading a couple of lines in a history book about real-life frontier fur trapper Hugh Glass. When he began writing the book in 1997, he would show up by 5:00 a.m. at the law office where he worked, write for roughly three hours, and then do his legal job for the next eight to ten hours. As part of the process, he conducted extensive research on Glass, including setting up and testing actual hunting traps.
The book took a total of four years to complete, and according to his brother Tim, Punke caught pneumonia at least four times during the writing process. When Revenant was finally published, in 2002, it received little fanfare. However, Director Alejandro G. Inarritu discovered the novel and, realizing its film potential, immediately purchased the rights. Inarritu championed it and eventually attracted other producers and directors. The film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy, was released in 2015.
Afterward, Punke relocated with his wife Traci and their two children to Missoula, Montana, where he worked part-time as a policy consultant and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Montana. He also finished two non-fiction books (and their screenplays):
2007 - Last Stand: George Bird Grinnell, the Battle to Save the Buffalo, and the Birth of the New West. 2013 - Fire and Brimstone: The North Butte Mining Disaster of 1917
Punke was also the historical correspondent for Montana Quarterly magazine. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 1/7/2016.)