William Souder
{{Short description|American journalist and author}}
{{Infobox person
| name =
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1949}}
| birth_place = Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
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| other_names =
| occupation = Author, journalist
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| known_for =
| notable_works = A Plague of Frogs
Mad at the World: A Life of John Steinbeck
| alma_mater = University of Minnesota
}}
William Souder (born 1949) is an American journalist and non-fiction author.
Career
In 1996, Souder wrote a story about deformed frogs discovered in Henderson, Minnesota which was published on the front page of The Washington Post{{cite news |last1=Souder |first1=William |title=In Minnesota Lakes, An Alarming Mystery |url=https://blumberg-lab.bio.uci.edu/souder/ws-961230.htm |access-date=25 July 2024 |work=The Washington Post |date=September 30, 1996}} and covered on television news by Dan Rather. Souder parlayed the publicity into a deal for his first book, A Plague of Frogs, which was published in 2000.
In 2003, at age 54, Souder decided to write his first biography, a profile of John James Audubon. His book, Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of The Birds of America, was a finalist for Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography.{{Cite web |last= |title=2005 Pulitzer Prizes |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2005 |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=Pulitzer Prize |language=en}} His book On A Farther Shore: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson, a biography of ecologist Rachel Carson, was listed in New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2012{{Cite news |date=2012-11-27 |title=100 Notable Books of 2012 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/books/review/100-notable-books-of-2012.html |access-date=2022-10-21 |issn=0362-4331}} and Top 25 Best Non-Fiction book in 2012 by Kirkus Reviews.{{Cite web |title=Best Nonfiction of 2012: Biography |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-lists/best-nonfiction-2012-biography/ |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=Kirkus Reviews |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=William Souder |url=https://go.authorsguild.org/members/284 |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=The Authors Guild}}{{Cite news |last=Royte |first=Elizabeth |date=2012-09-14 |title=The Poisoned Earth |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/books/review/on-a-farther-shore-by-william-souder.html |access-date=2022-10-21 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |date= |title=On a Farther Shore: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson by William Souder |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780307462206 |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=www.publishersweekly.com}}{{Cite book |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/william-souder/on-farther-shore/ |title=ON A FARTHER SHORE {{!}} Kirkus Reviews |language=en}}
Souder won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography in 2021 for his book Mad at the World: A Life of John Steinbeck.{{Cite web |last= |last2= |last3= |last4= |date=2021-04-17 |title=Winners of the 2020 L.A. Times Book Prizes announced |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2021-04-16/winners-of-the-2020-l-a-times-book-prizes-announced |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} To research for the book, Souder spent months in Steinbeck's native California, including time at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University, and the Steinbeck Collection at Stanford University. At the National Steinbeck Center, he transcribed for the first time hours of interviews of Salinas locals who had known Steinbeck personally.{{cite magazine |last=Robson |first=Britt |date=Winter 2019 |title=Life Stories |url=https://www.minnesotaalumni.org/stories/life-stories |magazine=Minnesota Alumni |location= |publisher=University of Minnesota Alumni Association |access-date=July 25, 2024}}
Personal life
Souder was born in Minneapolis but moved to Florida in the second grade. After four years in the United States Navy, he returned to Minnesota to study journalism at the University of Minnesota. While at Minnesota, he wrote for the Minnesota Daily. By the year 2000, he was married with four children and building a home in Grant, Minnesota. {{Asof|2019}}, he was living in that home.{{cite magazine |last=Robson |first=Britt |date=Winter 2019 |title=Life Stories |url=https://www.minnesotaalumni.org/stories/life-stories |magazine=Minnesota Alumni |location= |publisher=University of Minnesota Alumni Association |access-date=July 25, 2024}}
Bibliography
- A Plague of Frogs: The Horrifying True Story. Hyperion, 2000.
- Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of The Birds of America. North Point Press, 2004.
- On a Farther Shore: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson, Author of Silent Spring. Crown, 2012
- Mad at the World: A Life of John Steinbeck. W. W. Norton & Company, 2020.
References
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Category:21st-century American biographers
Category:University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication alumni
Category:United States Navy sailors
Category:Writers from Minneapolis
Category:Journalists from Minneapolis
Category:American male biographers
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