Wayne Johnson is the acclaimed author of five novels and a longtime faculty member of the Iowa Summer Writing Program. Growing up in Minnesota, he competed in skiing events such as Nordic jumping and downhill racing from an early age. At various points, he has been everything from a researcher of plant genetics, an auto and motorcycle mechanic, a mountain road surveyor, and a logging operation choke setter for the U.S. Forest Service in Montana, to a ski instructor in Sun Valley, Idaho, and Bozeman, Montana.