Background

Dan O'Brien was born as Daniel Hosler O'Brien on November 23, 1947, in Findlay, Ohio, United States.

Education

After finishing Findlay High School in 1966, Dan O'Brien pursued his studies at Michigan Technological University where he played football in his spare time. Four years later, O'Brien received a Bachelor of Science degree in Math and Business from Findlay College (currently the University of Findlay).

Then, he studied under Frederick Manfred at the University of South Dakota where he obtained a Master of Arts degree in 1973. It was followed by a Master of Fine Arts from Bowling Green State University the next year.

He also attended the Ph.D. program at the University of Denver.

Career

Dan O'Brien started his career in the late 1970s working as an endangered species biologist at the South Dakota Department of Game Fish and Parks and later, from 1976 to 1986, in the Peregrine Fund. He combined the activity with writing.

By the end of the 1980s, O'Brien left the academics and concentrated on part-time teaching. It was the time when he came on the literary scene with the publication of ‘Eminent Domain’, a collection of ten short stories that won the Iowa School of Letters short fiction award in 1986. Among the works in this collection are pieces dealing with a man who, while fishing, contemplates the death of his father; nighttime, mountaintop rescue; and a man who is forced to sell what he values most in the world.

O’Brien’s next book idea came after he worked for The Peregrine Fund, an organization devoted to the raising and releasing into the wild of endangered peregrine falcons. He recounted the four-month story of a particular falcon, Dolly, in ‘The Rites of Autumn: A Falconer’s Journey Across the American West’. During these months, O’Brien and Dolly traveled from the author’s ranch in western South Dakota to Texas, practicing avian survival skills along the way.

O’Brien’s third book was set in the town of Medicine Springs, near Mount Rushmore, South Dakota. Published in 1988, ‘Spirit of the Hills’, it became the author’s first novel. O’Brien developed several plots in the story, a Vietnam veteran set on avenging the death of his brother in a drug deal, a hunter looking for a wolf that is supposedly terrorizing the nearby ranchers, a demonstration by Native Americans, and Indian militant planning to blow up Mount Rushmore.

The book was followed by ‘In the Center of the Nation’, a novel in which the author portrayed the lives of four South Dakota ranchers whose land was sought after by a gold-mining company that wanted to exploit it using an environmentally unfriendly chemical process.

At the end of the 1990s, Dan O'Brien enlarged his small cattle ranch in South Dakota to a buffalo ranch. In 2001, he established Wild Idea Buffalo Company and Sustainable Harvest Alliance which aimed to elevate strong and health buffalo whose meat is good for human health and the health of the American Great Plains.

Nowadays, O'Brien lives and works on his Cheyenne River Ranch in the west of South Dakota. In addition to writing and elevating buffalo, he also teaches ecology and serves on the Black Hills branch of The Nature Conservancy.

The latest book by O'Brien is a 2014 volume ‘Wild Idea: Buffalo and Family in a Difficult Lan’.

Achievements

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  Dan O'Brien has masterly used more than thirty years of experience in wildlife biology and ranching to produce fascinating and faithful books about life on the prairies which are widely recognized.
  
  His books have been translated into seven foreign languages and his essays, reviews, and short stories have been published in many periodicals including, Redbook, New York Times Magazine, and FYI, New York Times Book Review.
  
  In 1986, O'Brien won Iowa School of Letters Award for his debut publication ‘Eminent Domain’. The author has also been a recipient of Western Heritage Award (twice), Bronze Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, Spur Award, National Endowment for the Arts grant (twice), and the Bush Creative Arts Fellowship.
  
  In 2017, Wild Idea Buffalo Company was marked by the City's Sustainability Award.
  
  O'Brien is also celebrated as an accomplished falconer for the contributions he made for the restoration of peregrine falcons in the Rocky Mountains in the 1970s and 80s.

Works

More photos

• book

  • In the Center of the Nation: A Novel

    (When a mining company discovers gold near the Badlands, S...)

    1991
  • The Rites of Autumn: A Falconer's Journey Across the American West

    (The book recounts the author's work with the Peregrine Fu...)

    1988
  • Wild Idea: Buffalo and Family in a Difficult Land

    (A book about how good food choices can influence federal ...)

    2014
  • The Contract Surgeon

    (A tale of bravery, medical daring, justice and love that ...)

    1999
  • Equinox: Life, Love, and Birds of Prey

    (A story about his decision to devote himself to his great...)

    1997
  • Buffalo for the Broken Heart: Restoring Life to a Black Hills Ranch

    (At once a tender account of the buffaloes’ first seasons ...)

    2007
  • The Indian Agent: A Novel

    (The riveting sequel to The Contract Surgeon)

    2004
  • Eminent Domain 1987
  • Spirit of the Hills 1988

Views

Quotations: "I have dedicated my life to preserving and restoring the Great Plains grasslands. These same principles are the foundation of Wild Idea Buffalo Company. By returning the bison to their native homeland, we're not only re-wilding a threatened ecosystem, we are keeping prairies intact, with carbon stored safely underground, and producing the healthiest red meat on the planet."

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• Dan O'Brien was characterized by the New York Times as “a writer with a keen and poetic eye…”.

Connections

Dan O'Brien is married to Jill Maguire who helps him on the ranch and manages Wild Idea Buffalo Company. She is also an amateur photographer.

Spouse:

Jill Maguire

Jill Maguire with Dan O'Brien.

References

• The website of the Wild Idea Buffalo Company