Don Berry

Born on January 23, 1932, Don Berry was an American author and artist who became closely associated with Oregon, even though he was born in Minnesota. After attending Reed College, he built a creative life that reached beyond fiction into painting, music, sculpture, and other arts.

He is best remembered for three historical novels set during the first white settlements on the Oregon coast: Trask (1960), Moontrap (1962), and To Build a Ship (1963). Moontrap was nominated for the National Book Award, and Berry's fiction has been praised for its original, psychologically sharp treatment of frontier life and contact between white settlers and Native people.

Later in life, Berry lived and worked in the Seattle area and on nearby islands, continuing to write and make art in many forms. He died on February 20, 2001, leaving behind a body of work that still stands out in Northwestern historical fiction.