Kathryn Miles

Kathryn Miles
Kathryn Miles (born 1974 in Peoria, Illinois) is an American author. Her first book, Adventures with Ari, combines backyard naturalism, personal memoir, and canine ethnography. It was named a Bark! Magazine notable book for 2009. She has been praised for her ability to weave science and personal narrative and her commitment to environmental issues.

Miles took her first job as a junior reporter at the Journal Star in Peoria at the age of 16. Her first published articles spanned such subjects as national pumpkin chunking tournaments, the fashion behind Major League baseball uniforms, and the art of Zamboni driving. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and English from Saint Louis University in 1996, and took her Ph.D. in English from the University of Delaware in 2001.

Since that time, she was written extensively on ideas of place, environmental activism, and the role of memory in defining landscape. Her scholarly articles on epistemology and environmental history have appeared in journals including PMLA, Colby Quarterly, The Forum, Women Writers, and Reconstruction. Her recent essay, Dog is My Co-Pilot, which traces the ethnological evolution of the canine/human relationship, was an award-winning entry in the Ecotone evolution contest, held in honor of Darwin’s 200th birthday. She is author of the long-running “Backcountry Bistro” column and has also published newspaper and magazine articles on topics ranging from the dairy industry to life on a tall ship. Her series on the settlement of the New England coast had been nominated for a regional prize in journalism.

Miles is a professor of Environmental Writing at Unity College, where she teaches courses in narrative nonfiction, nature writing, and journalism. She has lectured at Harvard University, Antioch New England, Husson University, and for several other schools and organizations. She has taught writing workshops for Audubon, the Orion Society’s climate change program, and the Maine Environmental Writing Retreat. She currently serves as a scholar-in-residence for the Maine Humanities Council and as editor of Hawk & Handsaw: The Journal of Creative Sustainability. She lives with her husband, Greg, in Unity, Maine.

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