Photo: Greg Harring

Since returning to Colorado to write full time in 1990, T.A. Barron has published 12 novels, including the best-selling Lost Years of Merlin epic, and his new trilogy: The Great Tree of Avalon. He has also written two coffee table nature books about Colorado wilderness, one book of essays on the heroic in every person, and two illustrated children's books. Two of his novels have been optioned by motion picture studios. Many of his novels have won awards, such as the Nautilus Award for books that promote a better world, and have received the American Library Association's “Best Books” and the International Reading Association's “Teachers' Choice” designations. In recent years, Barron has written many articles and op-ed pieces on educational and environmental issues for a wide variety of publications, including The New York Times, Family Circle, American Library Association's Book Links, High Country News, and Parents Magazine.

From 1982 to 1990, Barron served in management positions in a venture capital organization in New York City. These included president and chief operating officer of Prospect Group, Inc., a publicly traded investment fund with assets exceeding two billion dollars, and chairman of Swiss Army Brands, Inc., the largest U.S. distributor of Swiss Army knives and watches. When the fund successfully completed its investments, Barron decided to change careers and follow his longstanding passion for writing.

After graduating from the public high school near his family's ranch north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, T.A. Barron attended Princeton University, where he received his B.A. in History in 1974. Barron founded one campus publication, co-founded another, served as class president, and completed the Teacher Certification program. Barron was voted by his classmates to receive the Class of 1901 Medal for outstanding service to the University, and also won the M. Taylor Pyne Prize, Princeton's highest award to an undergraduate, for his service to the university.

Following his undergraduate degree, Barron became a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, where he earned an Honors B.A. in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. During this experience, Barron began traveling the world and backpacked extensively in Asia, Africa, and the Arctic. (He often says that he majored in hiking trails while at Oxford.)

Throughout his career as an author, businessman, and conservationist, Barron has served on many national boards, including the Princeton University board of trustees, the Wilderness Society, American Farmland Trust, Alaska Conservation Foundation, and the Nature Conservancy state boards in Colorado and Alaska. As a trustee of Princeton University, Barron helped to establish the Princeton Environmental Institute which now includes students in more than 30 departments. Barron recently received the Wilderness Society's highest honor, the Robert Marshall Award, for his conservation work on behalf of American's natural treasures. T.A. Barron founded a national award for heroic young people, which he named after his mother: the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes. Each year, the Barron Prize honors extraordinary, public-spirited young people from all backgrounds, in the hope that their examples will inspire others.

Barron frequently speaks at conventions, community gatherings, book events, and university functions. His speeches often focus on the inspirational power of nature, heroes, and enduring stories.