Roland Smith

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Roland Smith was born on November 30, 1951, in Portland, Oregon. He studied at Portland State University. He worked as a zookeeper for 20 years at the Oregon Zoo and the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, Washington. After helping save wildlife after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, he published his first book, Sea Otter Rescue, in 1990.

Smith writes both young adult fiction and nonfiction for children, often drawing on his zoo experiences. His nonfiction book Journey of the Red Wolf won the Oregon Book Award in 1996. In 1997 he published Thunder Cave, a novel about a teen whose biologist father travels to Africa to study elephants. He continued with Jaguar (1999) and The Last Lobo (2001). He also wrote Tentacles and Chupacabra, the sequels to Cryptid Hunters. His books have earned multiple awards, including state “Book of the Year” honors and a 2007 National Outdoor Book Award (Children’s category) for Peak. He also won three awards for the Cryptid Hunters series in 2008 and 2010.

Roland Smith lives in Portland with his wife, Marie, and his stepchildren.