Zookeeper's Wife (Ackerman) - Author Bio

Author Bio 
• Birth—October 7, 1948 
• Where—Waukegan, Illinois, USA 
• Education—B.A., Penn State; M.A., M.F.A, Ph.D., Cornell University 
• Awards—D. Lit. from Kenyon College; Guggenheim
   Fellowship; Orion Book Award; John Burroughs Nature
   Award; Lavan Poetry Prize; honored as a Literary Lion by
   New York Public Library.
• Currently—lives in Ithaca, New York

Diane Ackerman was born in Waukegan, Illinois. She received an M.A., M.F.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell University. Her works of nonfiction include, most recently,

, narrative nonfiction about one of the most successful hideouts of World War II, a tale of people, animals, and subversive acts of compassion; , a poetics of the brain based on the latest neuroscience; Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden; Deep Play, which considers play, creativity, and our need for transcendence; A Slender Thread, about her work as a crisisline counselor; The Rarest of the Rare and The Moon by Whale Light, in which she explores the plight and fascination of endangered animals; A Natural History of Love; On Extended Wings, her memoir of flying; and the bestseller A Natural History of the Senses.

Her poetry has been published in leading literary journals, and in the books ; ; Jaguar of Sweet Laughter: New and Selected Poems; Lady Faustus; Reverse Thunder: A Dramatic Poem; Wife of Light; The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoral. She also writes nature books for children: Animal Sense; Monk Seal Hideaway; and Bats: Shadows in the Night.

Ms. Ackerman has received many prizes and awards, including a D. Lit. from Kenyon College, a Guggenheim Fellowship, Orion Book Award, John Burroughs Nature Award, and the Lavan Poetry Prize, as well as being honored as a Literary Lion by the New York Public Library.

She also has the rare distinction of having a molecule named after her—dianeackerone. She has taught at a variety of universities, including Columbia, the University of Richmond, and Cornell. Her essays about nature and human nature have appeared in the , and many other journals, where they have been the subject of much praise. She hosted a five-hour PBS television series inspired by . (From the author's website.)