William Souder for Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of The Birds of American
North Point Press 2004

After his first successful book, A Plague of Frogs, William Souder was casting about for a topic for a second book. His agent suggested naturalist John James Audubon. “I knew Audubon’s name, but not much about him,” Souder told a reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press in a May 2005 interview. “Then I got on Amazon and realized the most recent biography was published in 1964. It’s an eye-popping moment if you find a major historical figure who hasn’t been done in thirty years. Within an hour, I decided to do a proposal.”

The result of that proposal, Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of The Birds of America, is this year’s recipient of the Ohioana Book Award in the Category of About an Ohioan.

Souder and his family live in Stillwater, MN, where he writes for the Washington Post and other major newspapers.