Bestselling author Roland Smith will visit the Auburn Library’s Teen Book Club on Tuesday, June 16, at 4:30 p.m.
Smith is the author of many award-winning adventure books for upper elementary and middle school students, including “Elephant Run”, “Peak”, “Sasquatch”, and the first book in his new series, “I,Q”. Many of his books focus on father-son relationship. He has also written several nonfiction picture books describing life inside the zoo, including “Z is for Zookeeper: a Zoo Alphabet”.
Smith was a zookeeper and senior research biologist at Portland Zoo and Point Defiance Zoo for 20 years. He has appeared on national and local television shows, including National Geographic, Audubon, Discover the World of Science, and Northwest Wild.
Born and raised in Portland, Ore., Smith was just 5 years old his parents gave him an old manual typewriter that weighed more than he did.
Smith majored in English and biology at Portland State University with a goal of becoming a writer. A college work-study program led him to part-time work at the Portland children’s zoo, which he thought might provide some interesting writing material. Instead, the program led to a 20-plus-year career in zoo keeping, first at Portland’s main zoo, and then at the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, where Smith became general curator and assistant director, as well as senior research biologist.
In his noteworthy career, Smith led the team of biologists rescuing the sea otters after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 and re-introduced the nearly extinct red wolf back into its native habitat of North Carolina, South Carolina and Mississippi. In 1995, Roland transitioned from his work as a research biologist to become a full-time writer.
Smith’s visit is sponsored by the Friends of the Auburn Library. Every student who attends his talk will receive a free paperback copy of “Peak” or “Sasquatch”. For more information on Roland Smith, please visit his Web site at www.rolandsmith.com.