Ben Mikaelsen was born in La Paz, Bolivia in 1952. He went to an English school in Bolivia and moved to the US in the seventh grade. Growing up, he knew that he wanted to be a writer, but he only started seriously writing in college when a college English professor encouraged him. He has lived in Montana for 21 years and has been professionally writing for the past sixteen years. Among his many adventures and interests are skydiving, flying, horseback riding, and traveling to the North Pole and South America.
His novels include Touching Spirit Bear, Tree Girl, Ghost of Spirit Bear, and Petey. Three of his novels have been contracted to be turned into major motion pictures. He has been featured nationally on Jack Hannah's Animal Adventures as well as on German national television. He has won major awards for his writing, including the International Reading Association Award and Western Writer's Golden Spur Award. Ben Mikaelsen is married but does not have any children. He does however have a 700-pound pet black bear named Buffy.
Touching Spirit Bear, published in 2001, is an account of a young boy's experience with violence, forgiveness, and nature as he is banished to a remote Alaskan island as punishment for a violent crime. During this time, he is confronted by a rare...
