Biography |
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For an independent biography, read one compiled by The National Council of Teachers of English, which has kindly included me in their Masterpiece Theatre's American Collection Literary Map project. Or, another independent entry at Wikipedia.
Jump down for a no-frills bibliography and c.v. Or, you can read what I have put together: Born on June 12, 1954, the youngest of three children of a stern Irish-Catholic mother and a more gentle airplane mechanic who converted to Catholicism from the Methodist religion of his upbringing, I grew up in Wakefield, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. I spent eight years at St. Joseph parochial school, then went to St. John's Prep in Danvers, Mass., a wonderful, intellectually challenging school run by the Xaverian Brothers order that in many ways opened my eyes the world. I loved it there. Hockey was an important part of my life, but I also had a strong interest in biology and medicine, and I simultaneously got ever-more deeply into writing, which had interested me since about third grade. I was co-editor of the St. John's Prep student paper and it was during that period that I developed a serious interest in short stories and allegedly humorous essays. I use the word "allegedly" quite deliberately. I also was responsible for some of the worst poems ever written in the English language, although they seemed profound at the time. Hey, I was 16. After graduating cum laude from Harvard College in 1976 and doing the obligatory living-abroad find-yourself thing for several months, I worked as a baggage-smasher for Delta Airlines (the value of a Harvard degree!) while freelancing, including a cover piece for The Boston Globe magazine about the possibility of someone making an atomic bomb (and this was decades before 9/11). I then landed a job as a reporter at the North Adams Transcript, a small daily newspaper in North Adams, Mass. God knows why I was hired, for I had virtually zero experience and hadn't so much as stuck my nose inside a journalism classroom. Whipped into shape by a great editor, the legendary Rod Doherty, executive editor of the Dover, New Hampshire paper Foster's Daily Democrat, I learned the journalistic ropes and, in less than a year, took a staff writer position at the larger Cape Cod Times in Hyannis. Two and a half years later, I went to The Providence Journal, which had won several Pulitzer Prizes and had a reputation as a "writer's paper." A reputation well-deserved, I discovered first-hand, especially under the guidance of my new mentor, Joel Rawson, who was metro managing editor when I arrived and today, with another Pulitzer under his belt, is our executive editor -- the top dog. I have been chairman of the paper's writing committee, have won a bunch of awards (including an American Society of Newspaper Editors prize for feature writing), and for many years have specialized in long-term projects and series, several of which have been the basis for books. I like to think my forte is story-telling, tales in which interesting things happen to interesting people. I am also a regular book reviewer for our Sunday Books section (my tastes, as with my own work, are eclectic). At one point, I became intrigued with online serial fiction, and wrote the first chapters of three short stories -- for Halloween and Christmas, 1999, and the summer of 2000 -- that Journal and projo.com readers have finished in writing contests. My love of early Stephen King, of all people, inspired me to begin seriously writing fiction. I succeeded in having several horror/mystery stories published in magazines and hardcover and paperback collections, and, in 1988, sold my first book, a novel, THUNDER RISE (hardcover, 1989; paperback, 1992), to William Morrow. It got some good reviews and some bad; it's an entertaining book with several of my favorite fictional characters, and my daughters think it's cool, which is good enough for me. Meanwhile, through one of those weird twists of fate that keep life interesting, a young new editor at Random House out of the blue wrote me a letter asking if I had any non-fiction book ideas. This editor, Jon Karp, had worked briefly as a Journal reporter, but we were hardly friends; my only real contact with him was one day when he was a contributing reporter for a Page One story I wrote on deadline about a gruesome triple-murder/homicide involving a mother and her kids. Jon did a swell job watching the meat wagon remove dead Mom from her $20-a-night motel room. Anyway, I did have an idea: Hardy Hendren, chief of surgery at Boston's Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School professor, and protagonist of THE WORK OF HUMAN HANDS (hardcover, 1993; paperback, 1999), which received excellent reviews and pleased Jon enough that Random House bought two more titles. COMING OF AGE (1995) is my sentimental favorite, a fast-moving tale featuring Dave Bettencourt, one of the funniest and most unpredictable people I've ever met -- and now, in 2007, an accomplished documentary filmmaker whose first feature-length work, YOU MUST BE THIS TALL: The Story of Rocky Point Park, premiered on Sept. 7, 2007, to a sold-out house and a five-star review. COMING OF AGE is set inside an ordinary American public high school... ordinary, that is, until the craziness starts. TOY WARS brought me to yet another place normally closed to journalists, never mind the public at large: deep inside a Fortune 500 company, Hasbro Inc., manufacturer of G.I. Joe, Mr. Potato Head, Batman, Star Wars and many other toys. I have never spent so much time on a project -- almost five years, when all was said and done. That's because what I envisioned as a fairly straightforward story about the creation of a toy became, once I'd found my bearings, a saga in which jobs, reputations and billions and billions of dollars were at stake. Of all my books, Toy Wars has the strongest narrative and many of my most compelling characters, starting with CEO Alan Hassenfeld, a complicated and unconventional but admirable man who is unlike anyone I know. I wrote Toy Wars as I would a novel, with the hope that readers would get drawn in deeply at the opening scene and not let go until the very last word. You, of course, will be the judge of whether I succeeded. My fifth book was KING OF HEARTS: The True Story of the Maverick Who Pioneered Open Heart Surgery, an account of the astonishingly unconventional guys who created open-heart surgery, notably the colorfully eccentric Dr. C. Walton Lillehei. Random House published it in February, 2000. I followed King of Hearts with a six-part Providence Journal look into a rarely-visited world of old money: namely, the high-society world of Newport, Rhode Island, home of mansions, millionaires, and fascinating people who rarely, if ever, make their way into print. Click here to read A NEARLY PERFECT SUMMER: Travels Through Old-Money Newport. My sixth book was MEN AND SPEED: A Wild Ride Through NASCAR's Breakout Season, a chronicle of the 2001 Nextel Cup season through the focus of Roush Racing, largest team in motorsports. My new publisher PublicAffairs, brought out the hardcover of MEN AND SPEED in May 2002 (paperback in 2003), after the Journal published an eight-part series. My editor was the esteemed Paul Golob, and my publisher was Peter Osnos -- great guys both, and big supporters of my work. Paul has since left PublicAffairs. Please visit the official MEN AND SPEED book site! My seventh book, a look at pioneering medicine, THE XENO CHRONICLES, got nice reviews after it was published in June 2005. My 2006 non-fiction project was ``The Growing Season,'' the story of Frank Beazley, a remarkable man, that ran 12 consecutive days (September 24, 2006, through October 5, 2006) in The Providence Journal. The reader response was overwhelming. Last year brought an unprecedented behind-the-scenes journey through the life and world of a prominent American Catholic bishop, the Most Rev. Thomas J. Tobin. This is a story of a man, born to humble circumstances, who became one of the youngest American bishops ever - and now leads one of the country's major dioceses. AN AMERICAN BISHOP: Inside the World of One Cathedral Square started Sunday, October 21, 2007, and continued the next four Sundays, concluding with an epilogue on Monday, November 19, 2007. Check out the extensive online presentation. My eighth book will be a memoir of the personal journey I took during my year with the bishop. I am writing it now. These days, I live in a more-than-100-year-old farmhouse in a rural corner of Rhode Island (we border Connecticut and Massachusetts) with (or near!) my three children: the oldest of whom, Rachel, is now a mother of a beautiful daughter, Isabella Katherine Bernier, my first grandchild; the middle of whom, Katy, is at Harvard College, and has her own website; and the youngest of whom, Cal, is the sweetest and funniest boy (and video-game grandmaster), now in eighth grade, heading in September to Providence's great LaSalle Academy. I spend part of most summers halfway up the coast of Maine in a little town just outside Blue Hill, an arts center. My community passion is libraries. Since 1997, I have been the chairman of the board of trustees of my town's principal library, the Jesse Smith Memorial Library, a jewel of a place with more than 36,000 volumes, many computers, and a budget of more than $600,000. I am very proud of this library -- but the lion's share of credit, of course, belongs to our wonderful staff. The library we ran all those years was badly overcrowded, and so I joined the town's new library building committee. We began construction in 2006 on a new $9 million library that is a comfortable and exciting place for reading, viewing and performing. Designed by an award-winning design firm, Newport Collaborative Architects, the new library opened on March 31, 2008 -- a place where arts, entertainment, and writing is celebrated. It is also the centerpiece of the Stillwater Mills revitalization project, which will transform a blighted area in the heart of Burrillville into a vibrant civic, commercial and residential area. We had our Grand Opening on Sunday, April 27, 2008. The summer of 2008 will see the debut of Riverwalk Times, an outdoor theater, music, and arts series that will continue inside with the advent of cold weather. Details soon. Please join our Capital Campaign! Naming rights for rooms and other naming opportunities, large and small, are available. Last but not least, I am producing and writing a documentary movie directed by Dave Bettencourt -- yes, the protagonist of COMING OF AGE, and director of YOU MUST BE THIS TALL. ON THE LAKE: Life and Love in a Distant Place, will tell the story of Frank Beazley's home, Zambarano state hospital, from its earliest days as the Rhode Island State Sanatorium -- and also the larger national story of TB, the number-one killer in the early 1900s. Most of the Rocky Point crew is along as well. We already have a commitment from PBS to broadcast. Shooting began on November 12, 2007, and as of this writing we are deep into production. Please visit the official site for a blog, cool photos, and much more. And note that our creative collaboration has proved so exciting that we are teaming up for another doc, SISTERS, due for release in 2010.
Born: June 12, 1954, Melrose, Mass.
Children: Rachel (Magner Miller) Bernier, born 1981; Katherine Linwood Miller, born 1985; and G. Calvin Miller, born 1993.
Grandchild: Isabella Katherine Bernier.
St. John's Preparatory School, Danvers, Mass., graduated 1972.
Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., bachelor of arts, cum laude, 1976.
Harvard-Radcliffe Club of Rhode Island, Schools Committee, 1992-2003; returned to committee, 2007-
Board of Trustees, Jesse Smith Memorial Library, Burrillville, R.I., member since 1995. Chairman of the Board, 1997-
Burrillville-Glocester Youth Soccer, coach, 1996 and 1997.
Rhode Island Coalition of Library Advocates, 1996-
Burrillville Townwide Library Needs Committee, 1997 to 1998, when committee fulfilled its mandate.
Registered as prosepctive donor, National Bone Marrow Donor Registry, 2000-
Burrillville Library Facilities Committee, secretary, 2000 to 2003, when committee's mandate was fulfilled.
Burrillville Junior Hockey League, assistant coach, 2000-2003
Burrillville Junior Hockey League, secretary of the board, 2002-2003
Burrillville Library Building Committee, 2005-
Member of Advisory Board, The Lawrence Transplant Foundation, Washington D.C., 2006-
Rhode Island Blood Center, donor, four-gallon club, July 28, 2006.
Benefactor, Make-A-Wish Foundation and The Tomorrow Fund, 2006
Chairman, Riverwalk Times summer outdoor entertainment series,
Harvard Club of Boston, 1977- Providence Newspaper Guild, local unit of The Newspaper Guild, 1981- Mystery Writers of America, 1985- The Authors Guild, 1990- American Medical Writers Association, 1992-2003. Publishers Marketing Association, 1999-2002 Communications Workers of America, 1997- Marquis Who's Who in America, 2003, 2006, 2008. Gale Group's Contemporary Authors New Revision, 2007. Society of Professional Journalists, 2007- National Press Club, 2007- Harvardwood, the Harvard/Hollywood connection, member, 2007, Media Director and Board of Directors, 2008- Snyder, writer with Drake Witham, WGA registration # 1184318, Spring 2007. Summer Love, writer, WGA registration # 1216149, Summer 2007. Alden's Neck, writer, GA registration # 1230267, Autumn 2007. Money for Nothing, writer, WGA registration # 1230268, Autumn 2007. On the Lake: Love and Life in a Distant Place, due for broadcast in early 2009, producer and writer with director David Bettencourt. Sisters, due for broadcast in early 2010, producer and writer with director David Bettencourt.
Boomsday, by Christopher Buckley, April 2, 2007. A Russian Diary, by Anna Politkovskaya, May 13, 2007. The Pesthouse, by Jim Crace, June 24, 2007. The Cleft, by Doris Lessing, September 9, 2007. Red Moon Rising, by Matthew Brzezinski, September 30, 2007.
The Low Ten, irreverent commentary of the events of the day, published every Monday. You're invited to join the list!
1978-1979, staff writer for the North Adams (Mass.) Transcript. Covered municipal affairs, town of Williamstown, Mass.; wrote features. 1979-1981, staff writer for the Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass. Features writing; environmental, political and military affairs beat coverage. Chief, Bourne Bureau, 1980-1981. 1981-present, staff writer for the Providence Journal.
All published in The Providence Journal ``Building New Lives,'' six-part series on deinstitutionalization, November 25 to November 30, 1984. ``Building the Bridge, a continuing series on the construction of the new Jamestown, R.I., bridge, 1985-1987. ``Fatherhood: Where Fear Meets Joy,'' three-part series, June 15 to June 17, 1986. ``Living Longer: The Quiet Revolution,'' six-part series, November 16 to November 21, 1986. ``Children of Poverty,'' five-part series, November 26 to November 30, 1989. ``Working Wonders,'' six-part series on children's surgery, November 17 to November 22, 1991. Winner of Distinguished Writing Award, American Society of Newspaper Editors, non-deadline writing, 1992. ``Coming of Age,'' six-part series on adolescence in suburban America, September 26 - October 1, 1993. ``Toy Soldiers,'' seven-part series on the toy industry and Hollywood, December 17 - December 23, 1995. Into the Heart: A Medical Odyssey, nine-part series on the invention of open-heart surgery, January 10 - January 18, 1999. A NEARLY PERFECT SUMMER: Travels Through Old-Money Newport, six-part series on American aristocracy, July 2 - July 7, 2000. Speed: A Year Inside NASCAR's Biggest Racing Team, an eight-part series, April 7 - April 15, 2002. Looking for The Fountain of Youth, occasional series, began August 11, 2002, continuing into 2004. Fatal Foam, with Peter B. Lord, a four-part series on the dangers of polyurethane foam in household furniture and beds, September 28 - October 1, 2003. The series was part of an effort by several Journal journalists that was a Pulitzer Prize finalist Public Service in 2004. The Growing Season, September 24 - October 5, 2006, 12 consecutive days. AN AMERICAN BISHOP: Inside the World of One Cathedral Square, starting Sunday, October 21, 2007, continuing on four successive Sundays, through November 18, with an epilogue on Monday, November 19, 2007.
Writer and co-producer Of The Hour, about a rock band's quest to sign an album deal, Providence Journal, August 14, 2005. Saving Reggie, the story of a veterinarian who saved a dying dog, Providence Journal, October 2, 2005. Zambarano, an institution marks its first century, Providence Journal, November 6, 2005. Frank and Me: Our Year Together, about me and Frank Beazley, featured in The Growing Season series, Providence Journal, October 5, 2006. Bruce at 86, about one of the most extraordinary figures in Rhode Island history, Bruce Sundlun, war hero, captain of industry, millionaire, ex-governor, father, grandfather, and many times married to beautiful women, Providence Journal, November 19, 2006. AN AMERICAN BISHOP: Inside the World of One Cathedral Square, Providence Journal, Sunday, October 21, 2007. A HUMBLE PATH TO POWER, about U.S. Senator Jack Reed, an influential figure on military, foreign policy and other issues, Providence Journal, Sunday, April 27, 2008.
The New Jesse M. Smith Library blog, an unfolding chronicle of our new building, due to open this spring. ON THE LAKE movie production blog, with David Bettencourt, updated regularly.
(Abbreviated list. Longer bibliography at Locus Magazine index.) My first major sale, ``The Warden,'' Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, May, 1985. Since the Sky Blew Off, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Mid-December, 1985. ``Monster,'' Sunday Journal Magazine, January 5, 1986. ``The Devil at Bay,'' Sunday Journal Magazine, October 26, 1986. ``To be Cold, Like Trees,'' Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, July, 1987. ``Drive,'' Sunday Journal Magazine, October 25, 1987. ``Chiganook,'' Sunday Journal Magazine, October 30, 1988. ``Chosen One,'' in Masques III: All-New Works of Horror and the Supernatural, St. Martin's, 1989. ``The Good Book,'' in Borderlands: An Anthology of Imaginative Fiction, Avon, 1990. ``God Can be a Cruel Bastard,'' in Chilled to the Bone, Mayfair, 1991. ``Death Train,'' in The Definitive Best of The Horror Show, CD Publications, 1992. ``Lady in The Rain, a reader-finished Halloween story, October 1999, The Providence Journal. ``Stephen and The Magic Bell, a reader-finished Christmas story, December 1999, The Providence Journal. ``The Baby Hope Theft, a reader-finished mystery, summer of 2001, The Providence Journal. ``Wiping the Slate Clean, in Dark Masques, Kensington, 2001. Vapors, a short story for Study Hill, a division of Blackstone River Theatre, autumn 2007.
Advanced Reporting, a week-long seminar, American Press Institute, Reston, Virginia, 1983. Chapter in How I Wrote the Story: A Book for Writers by Writers about Writers, second edition, Providence Journal Company, 1986. Providence Journal Writing Program Committee, member, 1989 to 1994; chairman, 1989 to 1991. In-house story-writing seminars, with Journal Metro Managing Editor Carol J. Young, 1990 and 1992. Interview on writing in Best Newspaper Writing, 1992, Poynter Institute for Media Studies. Judge, Providence Sunday Journal Magazine annual short story contest, 1986 to 1992. Book reviewer, Providence Journal, 1985 to present. Judge, American Medical Writers Association writing awards, New England prizes, 1994. ``Immersion Reporting, Writer's Digest magazine, December, 1994. ` `Advice on Lead Writing, passage in guidebook, First National Writers' Conference, Hartford, Conn., 1995. Chapter in How I Wrote the Story, third edition, 1996. Writing coach for new writers, Providence Journal, designed and ran program, summer of 1997. Fellow, New York Times Foundation-sponsored Age Boom Academy, International Center for Longevity, New York, October 2001. Providence Journal Writing Tips, a forum where our staff explains techniques. Columbia Journalism Review interview on narrative journalism, Oct. 6, 2006.
United Press International New England Newspaper Advisory Committee, General Editorial Excellence, First Place, Newspapers of 15,000 to 50,000 circulation, 1980.
New England Associated Press News Executives Association, Third Place, science-technology stories, newspapers 30,000 to 60,000 circulation, 1982.
Greater Fall River (Mass.) Association for Retarded Citizens, annual media award, 1985.
National Council of Community Mental Health Centers, New England area service award, 1985.
Coalition of Family Advocates for the Mentally Ill, first annual anti-stigma award, 1985.
Rhode Island Association for Retarded Citizens, media Excellence Award, 1985.
Association for Retarded Citizens of the United States, media Excellence Award, 1985.
Rhode Island Probation & Parole Association, media award, 1985.
American Psychiatric Association, Robert T. Morse Writer's Award, 1986.
National Mental Health Association, Helen Carringer National Mental Health Journalism Award, 1986.
National Mental Health Association, Gold Award, 1986.
Mental Health Association of Rhode Island, media award, 1986.
New England Associated Press News Executives Association, honorable mention, spot news coverage, 1988.
National Mental Health Association, Silver Award, 1988.
Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America, first place, national journalism award, 1990.
Children's Express, first place, national journalism award, 1990.
New England Associated Press News Executives Association, third place, enterprise writing, 1990.
American Association on Mental Retardation, Region 10 Humanitarian Award, 1990.
New England Newspaper Association, Public Occurrence Award, 1991.
American Society of Newspaper Editors, Distinguished Writing Award, non-deadline writing, 1992, for ``Working Wonders.''
American Medical Writers Association, New England Chapter, Will Solimene Award of Excellence Writing Award, 1992.
New England Associated Press News Executives Association, honorable mention, feature writing, 1992.
JCPenney-Missouri Award, first place, series/special section, 1993.
New England Associated Press News Executives Association, part of a team that shared first place for investigative reporting, 1993. (Miller's contribution, writing a reaction story, was ancillary to the main effort.)
Benjamin Fine Awards, National Association of Secondary School Principals, first place, series, for ``Coming of Age,'' 1994.
New England Associated Press News Executives Association, third place, enterprise, for ``Toy Soldiers, 1996.
ARC of Northern Rhode Island, Media of Excellence Award, 1998.
American Cancer Society, Sword of Hope Judges Award, 1999.
National Marrow Donor Program, 2000 Excellence in Journalism Award, 2000.
Digital Edge Awards, Newspaper Association of America, 2001, finalist, for the online version of ``A Nearly Perfect Summer.
Pulitzer Prize finalist, member of Providence Journal team, Public Service, 2004.
Sevellon Brown award for public service, from the New England Associated Press News Executives Association, member of Providence Journal team, 2004.
NRI Community Services Inc., Woonsocket, Rhode Island, Champions honoree for outstanding community service, April 27, 2006.
Harvard University's Nieman Foundation for Journalism's Narrative Digest, Society of Professional Journalists, Jon Marshall's News Gems, Highlighting the Best of American Journalism, Oct. 19, 2006, for The Growing Season, which Marshall described as ``a stunning profile that reads like a novella.'' Essay on my lifelong love for story for Rhode Island NPR affiliate WRNI's This I Believe weekly series, broadcast May 30, 2007.
Kay McCauley The Pimlico Agency Box 20447, Cherokee Station New York, NY, 10021
Michael Prevett The Gotham Group 9255 Sunset Blvd. Suitte 515, Los Angeles, CA 90069
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Web site by Timothy C. Barmann | Contents Copyright © 1997-2008 G. Wayne Miller |
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