William (Bill) Dietrich is a novelist, non-fiction author, journalist and college professor who lives in Anacortes, WA. Born 9-29-51 in Tacoma, WA, he graduated from Western Washington University in 1973 with a journalism degree and has worked in newspapers for much of his life, including the Seattle Times from 1982-2008. He shared a Pulitzer for coverage of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in 1987-88, and won science writing fellowships from the National Science Foundation, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and Scripps. His journalism took him around the world and to the South Pole. In 1992 he published his first book, "The Final Forest," about timber wars in the Pacific Northwest. Other non-fiction includes "Northwest Passage," "Natural Grace," and "On Puget Sound." In 1998 he published his first novel, "Ice Reich." That was followed by "Getting Back," "Dark Winter," "Hadrian's Wall," "The Scourge of God," "Napoleon's Pyramids," "The Rosetta Key" and "The Dakota Cipher." (March, 2009.) His recent Ethan Gage novels for HarperCollins have sold into 28 languages. He teaches environmental journalism and writing at Huxley College of the Environment at his alma mater, Western Washington University. Dietrich is married and the father of two grown daughters.