Ken Wells

Ken Wells, acclaimed journalist and novelist, grew up deep in Cajun bayou country on the banks of Bayou Black about 60 miles southwest of New Orleans. He began his journalism career covering car wrecks and gator sightings for the weekly Houma Courier newspaper. He has gone on to an illustrious career: a Pulitzer Prize finalist for the Miami Herald; editor of two Pulitzer-Prize-winning projects for Page One of The Wall Street Journal where, over a 24-year period, he also roamed the globe covering the first Persian Gulf War, South Africa ‘s transition to a multiracial democracy and many other stories. He helped to launch Conde Nast Portfolio magazine in 2006 and is now is a senior writer for Bloomberg News Service’s Projects & Investigations Team and a frequent contributor to Businessweek magazine, where he recently penned cover stories on South Africa’s hosting of the World Cup and the BP Gulf Spill. Rascal, a Boy and His Dog, is Ken’s fifth novel and his first venture into Young Adult publishing, though his first novel, Meely LaBauve, crossed over into the YA genre on its own and remains in print after ten years. He has also penned two non-fiction books: Travels with Barley, the Quest for the Perfect Beer Joint, a travelogue through America ‘s $75 billion beer industry, andThe Good Pirates of the Forgotten Bayous, a story of blue-collar heroism in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The Pirates won the 2009 Harry Chapin Book Award. He is currently working on a memoir and a sixth novel. Wells lives on Manhattan’s Upper East Side in a tiny apartment with a view of the East River. When he’s not at his day job or writing books, he dabbles in song writing and still is in the hunt for that perfect beer joint. With another bayou expatriate, he recently became the proud owner of the Bayou Belle, a 17-foot sports fishing boat that he uses to terrorize striped bass and bluefish in Long Island Sound.