Dawn Prince-Hughes
Dawn Prince-Hughes (born 1964) is an American anthropologist, primatologist, and ethologist. She wrote Gorillas Among Us, a memoir about watching a family of gorillas, and Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey Through Autism. She also edited Aquamarine Blue 5: Personal Stories of College Students with Autism.
She grew up in Carbondale, Illinois. Her mother was a homemaker and her father worked in heating and air conditioning. In her memoir, she describes childhood symptoms of undiagnosed autism, dropping out of high school, and being homeless for a time.
At age 20 she first met gorillas at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. Her careful observations of the gorillas caught the attention of the zoo’s research director, and she began working there. She spent a total of 12 years studying the gorillas.
Dawn was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome at age 36. She started her bachelor’s degree in 1987 and earned a PhD in interdisciplinary anthropology through a distance program in Switzerland. She became an adjunct professor at Western Washington University in 2000, the same year she received her Asperger’s diagnosis.
Her books include Gorillas Among Us (2001) and Songs of the Gorilla Nation (2004). Aquamarine Blue 5 (2002) collected essays by college students with autism; Dawn wrote a preface, her own essay, and a concluding section, but did not edit the students’ essays.
Gorillas Among Us is based on a year of Dawn’s observations of a gorilla family in a zoo. Critics praised the book for its storytelling and its emotional connection with the gorillas, even as some noted it blends personal storytelling with scientific observation. The essay she wrote for Aquamarine Blue 5 inspired her memoir.
Dawn Prince-Hughes and her partner, Tara Hughes, have a son.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 04:14 (CET).