Life Long Learning at NE Tallahassee Public Library - From Zoologist to Author with John Fowler

From Zookeeper to Author, John Fowler’s Adventures in Writing.

In his book, A Forest in the Clouds, John Fowler takes us into the world of Karisoke Research Center, the remote mountain gorilla camp of Dian Fossey, a few years prior to her gruesome murder. Drawn to the adventure and promise of learning the science of studying mountain gorillas amid the beauty of Central Africa’s cloud forest, Fowler soon learns the cold harsh realities of life inside Fossey’s enclave ten thousand feet up in the Virunga Volcanoes.

From the moment he set foot in Fossey’s camp as a young undergraduate, John Fowler knew that the unexpected realities of Karisoke was worthy of a book. As a student of zoology, however, he didn’t see himself as the one who would write it. In the years since, inspired by the writings of authors of nonfiction, he decided to tell his story and write that book. But learning to write prose worthy of a memoir and getting it published would take Fowler into yet another adventure, one of learning, creating and storytelling.