W. Scott Olsen

• INQ, IWC, 227, 377, 477, 489

Most recently, Professor Olsen has traveled with students on excursions to London and Paris for practice in Urban Travel Writing, and taken students to hike the 100 mile long West Highland Way in Scotland as part of his Inquiry Seminar called Adventure, Exploration and Risk.  For his own work, he has been spending time with the personnel who fight wildfires in the American West.   He recently received approval to once again join the Hurricane Hunters for a future book.  He is now in his 17^th year as editor of Ascent magazine, and continues to help coordinate the National Book Award on Campus program.

Individual essays, articles, and stories published in:

 Literary—

Alaska Quarterly Review, Albany Review, , Ascent, Amarillo Bay, AWP Chronicle, Beacon Review, Del Sol Review, Kansas Quarterly, Kenyon Review, Kenyon Review OnLine, KinshipofRivers.org, Mid-American Review, Midlands, Modern Short Stories, Minnesota English Journal, Minnesota Literature, Nimrod, North American Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Northwest Review, Pottersfield Portfolio (Canada), Red River Journal, River Teeth, Saint Katherine Review, South Dakota Review, Tampa Review,  Terrain.org,, Third Coast, The Tyee (Canada), Weber Studies, Willow Springs , and many others.

 Commercial—

Air & Space, Air Facts, AOPA Flight Training, AOPA Pilot, Aviation Maintenance, Aviation Quarterly, Avionics News, Flying Magazine, The Forum (newspaper),Outside GO, and others.

HONORS:

Listed among the Notable Essays in Best American Essays 2011.

Listed among the Notable Essays in Best American Essays 2010.

Listed among the Notable Essays in Best American Essays 2008.

Listed among the Notable Essays in Best American Essays 2004.

Listed among the Notable Essays in Best American Essays 2003.

Listed among the Notable Essays in Best American Essays 1998.

Listed among the Notable Essays in Best American Essays 1997.

Honorable Mention, National Outdoor Book Awards 1997.

GRANTS:

Concordia College, Minnesota State Arts Board, Lake Region Arts Council, Jerome Foundation, North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, and others.

PAPERS/LECTURES/READINGS:

Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, Eastern Washington University, Montana Festival of the Book, Writers At Work Conference, Casper College Writers Conference, Associated Writing Programs (AWP) Conference, Upper Midwest Booksellers Association Conference, Texas Association of Creative Writing Teachers, Nobel Peace Prize Forum, Washington State University, University of Idaho, Lewis & Clark College, Jamestown College, Dickinson State University, University of Wisconsin—Whitewater, Concordia College, University of Massachusetts—Amherst, Computers and  Writing Conference, Instructional Computing Conference Small College Computing Symposium, Charleston Writers Conference, Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Conference on College Composition and Communication, American Culture Conference, and others.

• The Wildfire Notebooks, forthcoming
• Prairie Sky—A Pilot’s Reflections on Flying, Grace and Altitude, University of Missouri Press, forthcoming fall
• Never Land—Adventures, Wonder and One World Record in a Very Small Plane, University of
• Hard Air, University of Nebraska Press, 2007.
• At Speed: Notes from the Long Line Between Two Points, University of Nebraska Press, 2006.
• Gravity—The Allure of Distance, University of Utah Press, 2003.
• When We Say We’re Home, (co-authored with Dawn Marano, Doug Carlson and Wendy Bishop)
• Acts of Illumination, St. Mary’s University Press, 1996
• Pointed Home: A Cross Country Essay, Pecan Grove Press, 1994
• Meeting The Neighbors, North Star Press, 1993
• Just This Side of Fargo, Ironwood Press, 1992
• Ed. A Year in Place (co-edited with Bret Lott), University of Utah Press, 2001.
• Ed. The Sacred Place, (co-edited with Scott Cairns), University of Utah Press, 1996
• Ed. The Best of Writers At Work 1995, Pecan Grove Press, 1995.
• Ed. The Best of Northlight 1990, Northlight Publishing Project, 1990
• Ed. The Best of Northlight 1989, Northlight Publishing Project, 1989
• Ed. The Best of Northlight 1988, Northlight Publishing Project, 1988
• Ed. Ascent, editor-in-chief, vol. 21, no. 1 (Fall 1996) to present
• Ed. The American Literary Review, Special Issue—Old Friends, New Neighbors: A Celebration of the American Essay, vol. 5.2