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About This Author

Tom Koppel  writing sample
193 Richard Flack Road, Salt Spring Island, B.C., Canada V8K 1N4
Phone: (250) 537-9571
Fax: (250) 537-9571
Email: koppel@saltspring.com

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Topics of Current Interest
  • Soft adventure, maritime and island travel
  • Pacific coastal archaeology
  • Fuel cells and renewable energy
  • B.C. coastal history and heritage
  • Science, nature and the environment
Selected Periodical Credits
  • "Maui a Paradise for Humpback Whales, Too," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Jan. 24, 2002. Whale watching is a great reason to head for Hawaii, just as the great cetaceans do each year.
  • "Lost World," Vancouver Sun, Dec. 10-14, 2001. Five-part (10,000-word) series on coastal search for the first people in the Americas. Winner of awards from Canadian Archaeological Association and Canadian Science Writers Association.
  • "Sifting Our Past on the Seventh Continent," Georgia Straight, Nov. 2-9, 2000. A former radio operator recalls his misspent youth on the Antarctic Peninsula.
  • "Rockhopping with Penguin Pals," Porthole Magazine, Oct. 2000. Bird colonies coexist with sheep and scientists in the windswept South Atlantic.
  • "It's Dr. Ballard's Fuel-Cell Car," Reader's Digest, May 1998. A Canadian scientist offers an alternative to the gas-guzzler.
  • "Riverboat Rules the Mississippi," Georgia Straight, Apr. 9-16, 1998. The Delta Queen recalls a world of mahogany, crystal and brass.
  • "The Fort That Fur Built," Historic Traveler, Feb. 1998. Visit Washington State's Fort Vancouver and learn how men's hats helped open the American West.
  • "Volunteer Library in B.C. May Lose Funding," Quill & Quire, Dec. 1997. Provincial library association objects to use of membership contributions.
  • "Drawing on Nature," Equinox, June/July 1997. From virtuoso detail to visual poetry, Canada's up-and-coming wildlife painters stretch the bounds of their art.
  • "Forests of the Sea," Canadian Geographic, Mar./Apr. 1997. Exotic delicacy, fuel source, possible cancer cure--kelp is not just for sea urchins anymore.
  • "Investing in the Environment," Canadian Living, Jan. 1997. Taking a quiet, non-confrontational approach, the Nature Conservancy of Canada hustles to secure the future of our habitat one acre at a time.
  • "When Santa Comes Sailing In," Canadian Living, Dec. 1996. Spreading goodwill and cheer along the west coast is a cross-border tradition.
  • "The Spirit of Haida Gwaii," Canadian Geographic, Mar./Apr. 1996. Archaeology and totem pole restoration in B.C.'s Queen Charlotte Islands.
  • "Aloha from Hawaii, B.C.," Equinox, Aug. 1995. A celebration of Canada's unsung Hawaiian heritage.
  • "The Peopling of North America," Canadian Geographic, Sept./Oct. 1992. Latest research and theories on the origins of North America's aboriginal peoples.
  • "The Great Canadian Diamond Rush," Reader's Digest, Dec. 1993. Modern-day prospectors are engaged in a high-stakes northern treasure hunt.
  • "Preserving the Fruits of Yesteryear," Canadian Geographic, Nov./Dec. 1993. A dedicated band of growers is working to rescue rare varieties.
  • "Cruising to School," Canadian Geographic, Sept./Oct. 1993. The beauty, and drudgery, of commuting on the Gulf Islands' school boats.
  • "Fossil Fever," Canadian Geographic, Mar./Apr. 1992. Dinosaur delirium strikes Courtenay, B.C.
  • "Treasure-Trove of History," Canadian Geographic, Oct./Nov. 1991. Three centuries of Canada's past come to life at the Hudson's Bay Company Archives.
  • "Earthquake," Canadian Geographic, Aug./Sept. 1991. Major quake overdue on the West Coast.
  • "Gooey-Duck Galore," Canadian Geographic, Oct./Nov. 1988. B.C.'s exotic dive fishery serves Asian export markets.
  • "Heroes in Bronze," Canadian Geographic, Apr./May 1987. Sculptor Ralph Sketch celebrates great moments in Canadian history.
  • "At Home with Robert Bateman," Western Living, Nov. 1986. Canada's foremost wildlife painter works methodically, watches the birds and improves upon nature at his new home on Salt Spring Island.
  • "The Deceptive Sea," Western Living, Feb. 1986. Sheltered by Vancouver Island and a network of barrier islands, the waters of B.C.'s inner coast appear safe but have sunk many a ship.
  • "Freedom Seekers," Western Living, Dec. 1984. The black pioneers of Salt Spring Island and their descendants.
  • "Freighter Travel," Travel-Holiday, Jan. 1990. By luxury freighter from Rio to Buenos Aires.
  • "Cocos Island," Travel-Holiday, Nov. 1989. An isolated volcanic island off Costa Rica has lured pirates, sailors and scientists.
  • "Canada's 'Cool Mediterranean' Islands," Reader's Digest, Oct. 1987. A tour by boat through B.C.'s Gulf Islands.
  • "Kiev, Ukraine," Vista, May 1990. Doing meals and deals in the breadbasket of the USSR.
  • "Sidney is Boat City," Beautiful British Columbia, Fall 1987. The boatbuilding subculture is alive and well in Sidney, B.C.
Book Credits
  • Lost World: Rewriting Prehistory--How New Science is Tracing America's Ice Age Mariners, Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, New York, June 2003. A personal narrative documenting the search by archaeologists, geologists, paleontologists, and biologists for traces of late Ice Age people on the northwest coast, from Alaska to California.
  • Kanaka: The Untold Story of Hawaiian Pioneers in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest, Whitecap Books, 1995. A thoroughly researched and anecdotal history of the Hawaiians who came to the Northwest Coast during the 19th-century fur trade. Based on materials from Hudson's Bay Company Archives, Hawaiian State Archives, B.C. Provincial Archives, interviews with Kanaka descendants, and family photos, letters and documents; 160 pp. with archival photos, index and bibliography; in second printing.
  • Powering the Future: The Ballard Fuel Cell and the Race to Change the World, John Wiley & Sons, October 1999 hardcover, May 2001 softcover. The personal, technological and corporate story of an environmentally benign technology that will be powering electric cars by 2004. Named one of the ten best business books of 1999 by Amazon.com. Finalist for Canada's National Business Book Award for 2000. Published in Japanese translation, January 2001 and in German, October 2001. 276 pp., with index.
Other Writing Credits
  • Barkerville: Going for the Gold, July 1991. Feature on B.C.'s historic town, for B.C. Ministry of Municipal Affairs, Recreation and Culture.
  • B.C.'s Great Fossil Heritage, May 1991. Feature on Burgess Shale and Courtenay Elasmosaur fossils, for B.C. Ministry of Municipal Affairs, Recreation and Culture.
  • "A Tradition in Training Aims at the Future," Dec. 1986. Feature on apprenticeship training for Provincial Report, B.C. Ministry of the Secretary of State.
  • Technology Education Peer and Scholarly Review, Dec. 1993/Jan. 1994. Report for Curriculum Branch, B.C. Ministry of Education.
  • Various other reports and features for B.C. government ministries.
Related Areas of Expertise
~ Photography/Photojournalism ~ Research ~ Teaching/Training (feature and travel writing courses) ~ Translation (German to English) ~ Languages (fluent German, fair but rusty Russian, some Spanish, some French) ~
Qualifications
  • B.A. (economics), University of Pennsylvania, 1966
  • Ph.D. (political science), University of Wisconsin, 1972 (Russian and German studies)
Achievements
  • Canadian Archaeological Association Public Communications Award, 1996, for Canadian Geographic feature, "The Spirit of Haida Gwaii."
  • Finalist in National Magazine Awards, Travel Category, for Canadian Geographic feature, "The Spirit of Haida Gwaii."
  • B.C. Arts Council grant, 1998, for research and writing of a book on the Ballard fuel cell, an environmentally friendly technology, developed in B.C., that promises to make clean electric cars a reality within five years.
  • Canadian Archaeological Association, Public Writing Award, 1992, for Canadian Geographic article, "The Peopling of North America."
  • Western Magazine Awards, finalist in human issues category, 1985, for Western Living article on the black pioneers of Salt Spring Island, "Freedom Seekers."
  • Canada-USSR Media Exchange; first Canadian journalist to work (in Russian, with salary, office and travel privileges) at a major Soviet newspaper, Rabochaya Gazeta, Kiev (Ukraine), winter 1989/90.
Expertise by Subject
~ Aboriginal Peoples ~ Archaeology ~ Geography ~ Fisheries ~ Resource Industries ~ Environment/Nature ~ Russia ~ Germany ~ Science ~ Heritage ~ History ~ Travel/Tourism ~
Expertise by Type of Writing
~ Feature Articles ~ Interviews/Profiles ~ Science Writing ~ Report Writing ~ Travel Writing ~

Tom Koppel
writing sample

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Last updated: August 10, 2003   *   http://www.islandnet.com/pwacvic/koppel00.html