[ bio ]

b. 1958, Okinawa, Japan

education

D.Litt honoris causa, Amherst College, 2001

Marshall Scholar, Cambridge University, 1982-84

B.A. summa cum laude , Amherst College, 1981

Denver Public Schools, K-12

books

Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing (Random House, 2000; Vintage, 2001). Rowohlt Verlag (Germany), Scribner's (U.K.), Alba (Spain), 2001. Ulpius-ház (Hungary), 2003.

Whiteout: Lost in Aspen (Random House, 1991; Vintage, 1992 and 2001).

Coyotes: A Journey Through the Secret World of America's Illegal Aliens (Vintage, 1987). Heinemann (U.K.), 1988. Kobundo (Japan), 1989 .

Rolling Nowhere: Riding the Rails with America's Hoboes (Viking, 1983; Penguin, 1985; Vintage, 2001). Chikuma Shobo (Japan), 1992.

selected awards

Guggenheim Fellowship, 2003

Winner, National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction, 2001

Finalist, Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction, 2001

National Semi-Finalist, NASA Journalist-in-Space competition, 1986

Phi Beta Kappa, 1981

recent teaching 

Distinguished Writer in Residence, Department of Journalism, New York

University (2005 - present)

Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Faculty (2002, 2004, 2006)

Visiting Writer, Chatham College, Pittsburgh, PA (2002)

Visiting Fellow, Institute of Politics, John F. Kennedy School of Government,

Harvard University (2000)

Also, writers conferences in Aspen, Santa Fe, Sarah Lawrence College, Sun

Valley, Park City

literary prize judge

National Book Award (nonfiction), 2004

Katherine Bakeless Nason Prize for Creative Nonfiction, 2003

Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award, 2002

other employment

Correction Officer, State of New York (1997-1998). Also: sausage factory peón (Pamplona, Spain), VISTA Volunteer (Texas), bartender (England), Stanley H. Kaplan SAT preparation instructor, Spanish tutor, apartment manager, aerobics instructor, newspaper reporter, ski instructor, taxi driver (all in Colorado).

anthologized in

Haphazard Reading at Harvard, ed. Chen Juhong, Flower Publishing,

Guangzhou (China), 2005.

Eyewitness to the American West, ed. Colbert, Viking, 1998.

The Last Word: The New York Times Book of Obituaries and Farewells, ed.

Siegel, Morrow 1997

Literary Journalism, ed. Sims and Singer, Ballantine 1995

Best American Essays, 1994, ed. Kidder and Atwan, Houghton Mifflin

Debating Immigration, ed. Mills, Simon & Schuster/Touchstone 1994

Travelers' Tales Mexico, ed. O'Reilly and Habegger, O'Reilly & Assoc., 1994.

Today's Best Nonfiction, Reader's Digest 1988