Kim Heacox has worked for the National Geographic Society (as an assignment writer/photographer) since 1985. He’s written four books for National Geographic, including Visions of a Wild America (200,000+ copies sold since 1996) and An American Idea: The Making of the National Parks (2001), which earned him a consultant position on Ken Burns's forthcoming 12-hour PBS film on national parks and the U.S. conservation movement (to air in September/October, 2009).

Kim's most recent book, The Only Kayak, a coming-of-middle-age memoir about falling in love with Alaska (where he’s lived for 30 years), was a 2006 PEN USA Literary Award finalist in creative non-fiction. He recently finished his second novel, The Secret Language of Storms, and is now researching a non-fiction book on humpback whales and a nonfiction book on the transformational power of music, water and wildness. His photos are sold around the world by Getty Images and Accent Alaska. He enjoys carpentry and playing the piano and guitar, and spending quiet time at home with his wife Melanie, in the little town of Gustavus (reachable only by boat or plane), next to Glacier Bay National Park.