About the Author

Diana Muir is an award-winning author whose most celebrated works explore the landscape
and history of New England. Her most recent, 'Reflections in Bullough's Pond,' received the
Massachusetts Book Award as the best non-fiction book of 2000.

A reader of books in massive quantities and a lover of library research, Muir delights in
painting the past for modern readers. Her lucid and lyrical accounts, backed by careful
documentation, have earned her readers and fans both among the general public and in
academic circles.

Though her books are written for a general audience, her work in the social history of
Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July is considered foundational in the study of human
celebration. And 'Reflections' has been adopted by several college courses as a standard
text on the interplay between man and nature.

Muir also has written a pair of children's books on the Maine woods and the ice trade, which

have delighted a generation of New England schoolchildren. Yankee Magazine named her first, 'Giants in the Land,' one
of the 40 greatest children's books of all time.

Born a Connecticut Yankee, Muir now lives with her husband on the banks of an old mill pond in the western suburbs of
Boston. She has three children, all of whom have flown the nest. This has given her more time to write, but she says it
makes her sad.

Works & Awards

Major Lectures

Reflections in Bullough's Pond
(University of New England Press, 2000)
Massachusetts Book Award, 2001

Cocoa Ice
(Orchard Books 1997)
Lupine Award, Maine Library Association,
Honor Book, 1997

Giants in the Land
(Houghton Mifflin 1993)
Booklist Magazine, Top of the List, best
juvenile nonfiction book for Youth
Jefferson Cup - Virginia Library Association
1994 Honor Book
Starred reviews in Publishers Weekly,
Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews
School Library Journal Best Book
The Bulletin (Blue Ribbon winner)
Yankee Magazine, 40 Classic New England
Children’s Books
An ALA Notable Book

The Glorious Fourth
(Facts on File 1989)

Thanksgiving
(Facts on File 1984)

Muir speaks frequently, including lectures at the following
venues:

Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University

Boston Athenaeum

Boston Public Library

Brown University

Connecticut College

Fraunces Tavern

George Washington University

Lowell National Historical Park, Lowell Lecture

Harvard Forest

Museum of Our National Heritage, Lowell Lecture

University of Pennsylvania

Williams College

Worcester Exploratorium


Muir also has appeared on The History Channel, National
Public Radio “The Connection,”  “Morning Edition,”l Cambridge
Forum, BBC, Voice of America