A.Cort Sinnes is an author, artist and designer. He has written more than 36 gardening books and six cookbooks. He started as a member of the original creative team for the Ortho Book Series, beginning in 1974, working as editor and author, and then as managing editor for the entire Ortho Series, a position he held until 1983.
He wrote his first cookbook, The Grilling Book, for Aris Books in 1986, and Hot Tubs and Spas for HP Books. In 1992 his second cookbook, The Grilling Encyclopedia, was published by Atlantic Monthly Press and was nominated for a James Beard Award. His third cookbook, Gas Grill Gourmet (Harvard Common Press) was published in 1996 and named one of the Top Ten Cookbooks of 1999 by the National Barbecue Association; to date it has sold more than 150,000 copies. In 1996 Cort was also a contributing author for The All New Joy of Cooking.
From 1986 through 1990 Cort was editor-in-chief of Flower & Garden magazine in Kansas City, Missouri. After leaving the magazine, he started his own book series, Backyard Books, of which there are two titles: In Your Own Backyard, and Backyard Games, published by Andrews McMeel in 1992 and 1993. In 1993 In Your Own Backyard was awarded the prestigious Quill & Trowel Award for excellence in writing from the Garden Writers Association of America. From 1992 to 1996, Cort wrote and illustrated a syndicated newspaper column, In Your Own Backyard, which appeared in more than 250 newspapers nationwide.
In 1996 Cort became the founding editor of Gardening How-To magazine and the Executive Director of the National Home Gardening Club. Gardening How-To currently has over 575,000 readers and was the fastest growing magazine in America in 1998.
In 2002 Cort was the editor-in-chief of 2nd Home Living magazine which, unfortunately, remained unfunded after the inaugural issue. 2004 saw the publication of In My Garden (Andrews McMeel), written and illustrated by Cort. The Big Platter Cookbook was released in October 2004 (Stewart, Tabori & Chang), co-authored by Cort and Lou Jane Temple. A totally revised and expanded edition of Cort’s Gas Grill Gourmet, titled The New Gas Grill Gourmet, was published in the spring of 2005.