Richard Conniff (born March 2, 1951) is an

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

n non-fiction

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

, specializing in human and animal behavior.

Career

Conniff also writes about wildlife, human cultures and other topics for ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'', '' Smithsonian'', ''

Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 ...

'', ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazi ...

'', ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

'', ''

Audubon Magazine ''Audubon'' is the flagship journal of the National Audubon Society. It is profusely illustrated and focuses on subjects related to nature, with a special emphasis on birds. New issues are published bi-monthly for society members. An active bl ...

'', '' Yale Environment 360'', ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...

'' and other publications in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and abroad. His magazine work in ''Smithsonian'' won the 1997 National Magazine Award, and was included in The Best American Science and Nature Writing in 2000, 2002, and 2006. Conniff is also the winner of the 2001 John Burroughs Award for Outstanding Nature Essay of the Year, a 2007

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

, and a 2009 Loeb Journalism Award. Conniff has been a frequent commentator on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

and has served as a contributing opinion writer for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. He has written and presented television shows for

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Enter ...

, TBS,

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel focusing on the animal kingdom owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1 ...

, the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, and Channel Four in the UK. His television work has been nominated for an Emmy Award for distinguished achievement in writing, and he won the 1998 Wildscreen Prize for Best Natural History Television Script for the BBC show ''Between Pacific Tides''.

Honors and awards

* 1997 National Magazine Award * Best American Science and Nature Writing (2000, 2002, and 2006) * 2001

John Burroughs John Burroughs (April 3, 1837 – March 29, 1921) was an American naturalist and nature essayist, active in the conservation movement in the United States. The first of his essay collections was ''Wake-Robin'' in 1871. In the words of his bi ...

Award for Outstanding Nature Essay of the Year * 2007

* 2009 Gerald Loeb Award for Online business journalism for "Middle Class Crunch" * 2012 Alicia Patterson Journalism Fellow
2020 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant

Writing

Books

*
Ending Epidemics: A History of Escape from Contagion
'' MIT Press. 2023. ISBN 9780262047968. *
House of Lost Worlds: Dinosaurs, Dynasties, and the Story of Life on Earth
'' Yale University Press. 2016. . * * * * * ''Rats!: the good, the bad, and the ugly'', Crown Publishers, 2002, * ''Every Creeping Thing: True Trales of Faintly Repulsive Wildlife'', (Henry Holt, 1998) *
Spineless Wonders: Strange Tales from the Invertebrate World
' (Henry Holt, 1996) * Irish Walls (with photographer Alen MacWeeney) (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1986) ISBN 978-0941434782 * The Devil's Book of Verse: Masters of the Poison Pen from Ancient Times to the Present Day (Everest House, 1983) ISBN 978-0896961869 :

Selected magazine articles

(1990)

(1989)
The Atlantic: Darwin's Revenge
(2008)
The Atlantic: Heart of Darwin
(2008)

(op-ed, 2008) * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20210219142149/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/cannot-forget-world-before-vaccines The World Before Vaccines is a World We Can’t Afford to Forget(2019)
Why Putting Solar Canopies on Parking Lots Is a Smart Green Move
(2021)
The Unsung Heroes Who Ended a Deadly Plague
(2022)

References

External links

Richard Conniff's Strange Behaviors Blog

''identity theory'', November 5, 2002

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conniff, Richard American columnists American essayists American male essayists Living people Gerald Loeb Award winners for News Service, Online, and Blogging 1951 births American nature writers American male non-fiction writers