Peter Nichols (author)
Peter Nichols | |
|---|---|
 Nichols in 2019 | |
| Born | August 13, 1950 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer, professor |
| Alma mater | Skidmore College Antioch University Los Angeles |
| Genre | Fiction, non-fiction (including memoir) |
Peter Brayton Nichols (born August 13, 1950) is an American writer and academic.
He is known for his bestsellers The Rocks (2015, a novel); A Voyage for Madmen (2001, non-fiction), which was a finalist for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year;[1] and Evolution's Captain (2003, non-fiction). His novel Voyage to the North Star was a Book of the Month Club main selection and was nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.[2]
Nichols has taught creative writing at Georgetown University, NYU Paris, Bowdoin College, the University of Arizona, and the writing programs at Fairfield University (Connecticut), the University of Arkansas at Monticello, and Antioch University Los Angeles.[3]
Early life and education
[edit]Nichols was born in New York City and moved with his family to Britain when he was nine. He attended boarding school in England, and briefly attended East 15 Acting School in London. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Skidmore College,[4] and a Master of Fine Arts degree at Antioch University, Los Angeles.[5] He worked variously in advertising, as journalist, and screenwriter.[5]
Career
[edit]In his late twenties and early thirties, Nichols lived on a small wooden sailboat in the Caribbean and Mediterranean. He became a U.S. Coast Guard licensed yacht captain and navigator, worked as a professional yacht charter and sailboat delivery captain, and has sailed across the Atlantic Ocean three times on small yachts.[6] A solo crossing of the Atlantic is recounted in his memoir, Sea Change; Alone Across the Atlantic in a Wooden Boat (1997).[7]
In 2009, Nichols sailed across the Atlantic at the invitation of Dutch public-television channel VPRO. He accompanied the great-great-grandsons of Charles Darwin and Robert FitzRoy, the captain of HMS Beagle, on the square-rigged tall ship Stad Amsterdam to recreate the voyage of the Beagle and mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin.[8][9]
Bibliography
[edit]Non-fiction
[edit]Memoir
[edit]- Sea Change; Alone Across the Atlantic in a Wooden Boat (1997) (ISBN 1574092928)[10]
Other non-fiction
[edit]- A Voyage for Madmen (2002) (ISBN 073227592X)[11]
- Evolution's Captain (2004) (ISBN 0060088788)[12][13][14][15]
- Oil & Ice (2010) (ISBN 0143118366)
Fiction
[edit]- Voyage to the North Star (1999) (ISBN 0786706643)[16][17]
- The Rocks (2015) (ISBN 978-1-59463-331-7)[18][19][20]
- Granite Harbor (2023) (ISBN 978-1-25089-481-6)[21]
References
[edit]- ^ "Hillenbrand Wins Book Award". BBC Online. November 26, 2001.
- ^ "2001 Longlist". International DUBLIN Literary Award.
- ^ "Love on the Rocks". Interview. May 26, 2015.
- ^ "Candidates for the Degree" (PDF). skidmore.edu.
- ^ a b "Love on the Rocks". Interview. May 26, 2015.
- ^ "SEA CHANGE | Kirkus Reviews" – via www.kirkusreviews.com.
- ^ "A HAUNTING, WELL-TOLD SAILING ADVENTURE". Chicago Tribune.
- ^ "Darwin and the man who played God". The Times.
- ^ McKie, Robin (June 29, 2003). "Review: FitzRoy and Evolution's Captain". The Observer.
- ^ "Book Reviews, Sites, Romance, Fantasy, Fiction". Kirkus Reviews.
- ^ Wollaston, Sam (May 25, 2001). "Review: A Voyage for Madmen by Peter Nichols". The Guardian.
- ^ "Review: FitzRoy and Evolution's Captain". The Guardian. June 29, 2003.
- ^ MACFARLANE, ROBERT. "Reviews: Exploration: Evolution's Captain by Peter Nichols; Fitzroy by John and Mary Gribbin". The Times.
- ^ "Troubled waters" (PDF). Nature.
- ^ "Andrew Taylor - On the Wrong Side of Progress". Literary Review.
- ^ Bernstein, Richard (November 17, 1999). "BOOKS OF THE TIMES; Off to the Far North in a Boat That's 'All Wrong'". The New York Times.
- ^ Moody, Sidney. "Voyage to the North Star". The Austin Chronicle.
- ^ Christensen, Kate (May 20, 2015). "'The Rocks,' by Peter Nichols". The New York Times.
- ^ Ogle, Connie. "Review: 'The Rocks' by Peter Nichols". Miami Herald.
- ^ Nance, Kevin. "'The Rocks' will keep you guessing". USA TODAY.
- ^ "GRANITE HARBOR | Kirkus Reviews" – via www.kirkusreviews.com.
- 1950 births
- Living people
- 20th-century American academics
- 20th-century American male writers
- 20th-century American memoirists
- 20th-century American novelists
- 20th-century people from New York (state)
- 21st-century American academics
- 21st-century American male writers
- 21st-century American memoirists
- 21st-century American novelists
- 21st-century people from New York (state)
- American expatriates in England
- American expatriates in France
- American male biographers
- American male novelists
- Antioch University alumni
- Antioch University faculty
- Bowdoin College faculty
- Fairfield University faculty
- Georgetown University faculty
- Historians from New York City
- Memoirists from New York (state)
- New York University faculty
- Novelists from New York City
- Single-handed sailors
- Skidmore College alumni
- University of Arizona faculty
- University of Arkansas at Monticello people
- University of Arkansas faculty