Peter Nichols

Peter Nichols is the author of the bestselling novel The Rocks, the nonfiction bestsellers A Voyage for Madmen, Evolution’s Captain, and three other books of fiction, memoir, and non-fiction. His novel Voyage to the North Star was nominated for the Dublin IMPAC literary award. His journalism has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

He has an MFA degree from Antioch University Los Angeles, and has taught creative writing at Georgetown University, Bowdoin College, and New York University in Paris. Before turning to writing full time, he held a 100-ton USCG Ocean Operator’s license and was a professional yacht delivery skipper for 10 years.

He has also worked in advertising in London, as a screenwriter in Los Angeles, a shepherd in Wales. He sailed alone in a small boat across the Atlantic and is a member of the Explorers Club of New York.

Books in order of publication:

A Voyage for Madmen -1997

Voyage to the North Star – 1999

Evolution’s Captain: The Dark Fate of the Man Who Sailed Charles Darwin Around the World – 2003

Oil and Ice: A Story of Arctic Disaster and the Rise and Fall of America’s Last Whaling Dynasty – 2010

Final Voyage: A Story of Arctic Disaster and One Fateful Whaling Season – 2009

The Rocks – 2014

Granite Harbor – 2024