author
Charles Alan Long
b. 1936
A scientist, teacher, and museum founder who also wrote poetry, he brought a naturalist’s eye and a storyteller’s curiosity to the page. His work reflects a long life in scholarship, travel, and close observation of the world.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in 1936, Charles Alan Long built a wide-ranging career as a biologist and educator. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, where he taught mammalogy and other courses, helped found the university's Museum of Natural History in 1968, and served as its director and curator for many years.
Alongside his academic work, he wrote extensively. His published books include scientific works on mammals and natural history, and later he gathered decades of verse into Poems of Charles Alan Long: My Closet Life of Poetry [1957–2017], a collection shaped by years of research, travel, teaching, and personal reflection.
Long appears to have moved easily between careful scholarship and creative writing. That mix gives his authorial voice a distinctive feel: informed by science, but also interested in memory, humor, and the human side of a life spent studying the natural world.