A Wild Promise

DEBBIE S. MILLER grew up near the San Francisco Bay. In 1975, she and her husband, Dennis, moved to teach in Arctic Village, Alaska, a Gwich'in Athabascan Indian village located on the southern boundary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Over the past twenty-eight years, Miller and her family have explored the refuge on many trips through all of its seasons.

Miller has authored two nature books for adults, many children's books about Alaska's environment, and a number of essays and magazine articles. In 1998, she received the International Reading Association Teacher's Choice Award, and her book, Arctic Lights, Arctic Nights, received the 2003 John Burroughs Nature Book for Young Readers award. Her most recent book, Big Alaska: Journey Across America's Most Amazing State, won the 2007 Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children Award from the National Science Teachers Association. Her adult book Midnight Wilderness: Journeys in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge describes the natural and political history of the refuge through a series of wilderness adventure essays. She received the 1999 Refuge Hero Award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for her writing, education, and conservation work. Miller lives near the wilderness in Fairbanks, Alaska, with Dennis and their two daughters, Robin and Casey.

Debbie Miller contributed "Clinging to an Arctic Homeland" to Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land (Braided River, 2003) and "Songs from Around the World" to Arctic Wings: Birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Braided River, 2005). To learn more about her books and current work, click here.