Meet Diane

A descendant of a small, fishing community in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and with rural roots in the South, Diane is most at home writing about strong characters whose lives are physically and emotionally connected to their natural environments. She has worked alongside archaeologists, wildlife biologists, conservation canine handlers, and foresters, and spends much of her free time exploring remote landscapes and wilderness areas. Ingrained in all of this is her love of story and her attention to the individual lives of those who inhabit those settings. She also enjoys snowshoeing, archery, swimming, kayaking still waters, and backpacking.

Diane believes her spirit resides in three places: the big lake and woods of the UP, where she spent a memorable part of her formative years; the western landscape of Colorado, where, for thirteen years, she raised her three sons; and the northern woods of New Hampshire, where she lived while serving as a professor of English and program director at Southern New Hampshire University, and where she now resides with her husband and dog Izzy. She writes in a 7-by-7-foot shed called “Wild Spaces” that backs up to white pines, hemlocks, canoe birch, and American elms, and recently completed her new novel FLIGHT OF THE BLUE HERON.

Among authors whose works have inspired Diane are Barry Lopez, Terry Tempest Williams, Cormac McCarthy, Robyn Davidson, Kazuo Ishiguro, Gretel Ehrlich, and Richard Powers.

After recently undergoing surgery to repair five brain aneurysms, Diane is already at work on her next novel and once more hiking some of her favorite terrain.