Kevin J. Koch is Professor Emeritus of English at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. He is author of Skiing at Midnight: A Nature Journal from Dubuque County, Iowa (Loras College Press); The Driftless Land: Spirit of Place in the Upper Mississippi Valley (Southeast Missouri State University Press); The Thin Places: A Celtic Landscape from Ireland to the Driftless (Wipf & Stock); and Midwest Bedrock: The Search for Nature’s Soul in America’s Heartland (Indiana University Press). Koch’s creative nonfiction typically focuses on outdoor settings of the Midwest (and sometimes Ireland) steeped in beauty and story. His work blends a  personal narrative of discovery with geological, archaeological, and historical information often derived from place-based interviews. The result is an endeavor to know place deeply. When not working on writing projects, he and his wife Dianne can frequently be found bicycling or cross-country skiing in the Midwest’s hilly Driftless region or kayaking its rivers and lakes.