Ben Mikaelsen Biography
Ben Mikaelsen says he draws the "soul" of each of his
novels from real experience, is no stranger to bears, the
wilderness, or adventure. The author has had the unique
(original) experience over the past nine years of raising a
600-pound black bear named Buffy at his home in the
mountains of Bozeman, Montana. Beyond this, Mikaelsen
has been involved in many adventures, including "a 1,600
mile cross-country horseback trip from Minnesota to
Oregon, over 800 parachute jumps, nine years of raising
and studying bears, racing sled dogs, playing horse polo, building a log house, private
and commercial pilot training, extensive scuba diving, and worldwide travel." Although
his personal adventures have entailed (needed) courage and endurance
(perseverance) and his fiction is engaging for its action and suspense, Mikaelsen's
adventure stories are not of the rugged "man versus nature" variety. Rather, they make
an appeal for peaceful coexistence (living) between the natural and social worlds. In
many of his novels, to be kind and gentle in a sometimes inhumane (mean) society is
the greatest act of courage.
Mikaelsen spent his early childhood in Bolivia. Rigid boarding schools and feeling like
an outsider contributed to the boy's strong sense of insecurity and self-doubt. When he
was thirteen, his family moved back to the United States, but Mikaelsen felt ostracized
in his native country as well. He learned early to compensate for his social insecurities
by entering into daring feats, such as cliff diving and, later, skydiving. When he was
alone, however, he consoled himself through writing. He kept his writing to himself, and
it was not until he was in college that anyone encouraged him in this practice.
After college, Mikaelsen and his wife, Melanie, moved to the mountains of Bozeman,
Montana, where, in 1984, they adopted Buffy, a declawed black bear cub, from a wild
game farm. The adoption entailed a huge commitment. Buffy required a costly living
facility (although he spends much of his time in the Mikaelsen's home) and many hours
of Mikaelsen's time. "The first couple of months I started raising him like you would a
dog and I wasn't having any luck. He was getting more independent and angry. So
then I started raising him like a child. I would give him his food in a bottle instead of a
dish, and cuddle him in my arms as he drank it. I would go out and put him to bed
every night and let him fall asleep in my lap. If I heard him crying then I would go out
and sleep with him the rest of the night. When I started doing that I immediately had
luck. What I really want to impress here is that I don't own Buffy. Buffy and I have a
relationship that is deeper than you can ever imagine." Learning to understand and
respond to Buffy's needs rather than to try to control him was a big lesson in life. A
former bear hunter himself, Mikaelsen realized while raising Buffy that he had
previously been enjoying wildlife from a very limited perspective. "Any appreciation I
had of a wild animal ceased at the moment I killed it. Now I feel like I've come to
appreciate and understand and be amazed by the complexity of Buffy's existence."
In order to write many of his novels, Mikaelsen and his wife actually camp on location
and map out the journeys. Living his books by actively entering into the adventures he
writes about is, according to the author, "a fun way to keep from getting to be a mole…I
can go to libraries and get a lot of my research, but I've never found the soul of my
story in a library. Not until I was laying awake at 4:00 in the morning trying to bottlefeed a cub that was almost starved to death. In that struggle--the little critter struggling
for life--I discovered the soul of a novel. Or when I was among the homeless and I saw
that look of hopelessness in some little kid that hasn't had a decent meal in three years
and is almost naked except for his dirty underpants. When I actually felt the hunger
and cold and looked into his eyes, that's where I found the soul for that story."
Mikaelsen's books aim at empowering children and offering them new possibilities. "In
all my writing I try to help children discover that they count. I want to take a child on a
journey that changes their emotions, attitudes, and perspective. Children are the
future. Children's literature offers a sobering but exciting chance to affect that future,
environmental or social. For this reason I enjoy writing to issues."
Citation Details
Title: Biography - Mikaelsen, Ben(jamin) (John) (1952-)
Author: --Sketch by Sonia Benson
Publication: Contemporary Authors (Biography)
Date: 2002
Publisher: Thomson Gale