Scott Russell Sanders (born 1945 in Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

) is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 novelist and essayist.

Sanders has won acclaim for his skill as a personal essayist. He is a contributing editor to Audubon

National Audubon Society

The National Audubon Society is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation. Incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organizations in the world and uses science, education and grassroots advocacy to advance its conservation mission...

magazine and won the John Burroughs Natural History Essay Award in 2000. A frequent public lecturer, his essay "The Force of Spirit," which opens his 2000 book of essays by the same title, was first given as a lecture before the Orion Society's Millennium Conference in 1999. The essay later appeared in the Best American Essays 2000 and was the fourth essay of Sanders' to appear in the Best American series. He received the Lannan Literary Award in 1995 for his non-fiction writing and has received the Frederick Bachman Lieber Award for Distinguished Teaching, the highest teaching award given at IU.

Sanders is a distinguished professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 of English

English studies

English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...

 at Indiana University

Indiana University Bloomington

Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana, in the United States. IU Bloomington is the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. Being the flagship campus, IU Bloomington is often referred to simply as IU or Indiana...

, where he has taught since 1971. During his career, he has spent sabbatical years as a writer-in-residence at Phillips Exeter Academy

Phillips Exeter Academy

Phillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking...

, and as a Visiting Professor at University of Oregon

University of Oregon

-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...

, MIT, and Beloit College

Beloit College

Beloit College is a liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin, USA. It is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, and has an enrollment of roughly 1,300 undergraduate students. Beloit is the oldest continuously operated college in Wisconsin, and has the oldest building of any college...

 . He is married with two children, Eva and Jesse, both of whom he addresses in letters included in The Force of Spirit.

Novels

• Terrarium
  Terrarium (book)
  Terrarium, ISBN 0-812-55380-2 is a 1985 science fiction novel by essayist Scott Russell Sanders published by Tor science fiction.-Plot:...
  
  (1985) ISBN 0253329566
• Bad Man Ballad (1986) ISBN 0027782301
• The Engineer of Beasts (1986) ISBN 0531057836
• The Invisible Company (1989) ISBN 0812553829

Short Story Collections

• Wilderness Plots (1983) ISBN 9781590981801
• Fetching the Dead (1984)

Creative non-fiction/essays

• “Scott: Towards a Social Theory of Literature”. Telos 18 (Winter 1973-74). New York: Telos Press.
• The Paradise of Bombs (1987) ISBN 0820309036
• In Limestone Country (1991)
• Secrets of the Universe: Scenes from the Journey Home (1991) ISBN 0807063304
• Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World (1993) ISBN 0807063401
• Writing from the Center (1995) ISBN 0253329418
• Hunting for Hope: A Father's Journeys (1998) ISBN 080706324X
• The Country of Language (1999) ISBN 1571312293
• The Force of Spirit (2000) ISBN 0807062987
• A Private History of Awe (2006) ISBN 9780865476936
• A Conservationist Manifesto (2009) ISBN 0253220807

Children's books

• Hear the Wind Blow (1985) ISBN 9780027781373
• Aurora Means Dawn (1989) ISBN 9781590984277
• Warm as Wool (1992) ISBN 9781590984215
• Here Comes the Mystery Man (1993) ISBN 9780027781458
• Floating House (1995) ISBN 9781590984253
• Meeting Trees (1996) ISBN 0792241401
• A Place Called Freedom (1997) ISBN 9780689804700
• Crawdad Creek (1999) ISBN 9780792270973