'''Lawrence Millman''' (born January 13, 1946, in Kansas City, Missouri) is an adventure travel writer and mycologist based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/science/2016/09/24/meet-fungus-man-the-character-from-haida-myth-who-embodies-the-ecological-importance-of-fungus/ |title=Meet Fungus Man, the character from Haida myth who embodies the ecological importance of fungus |work=Anchorage Daily News |first=Ned |last=Rozell |date=September 24, 2016 |access-date=June 15, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/millman-lawrence-1946 |title=Millman, Lawrence 1946– |work=Contemporary Authors |series=New Revision Series |date= |access-date=2023-08-22 |via=Encyclopedia.com}}</ref>

He has won numerous awards, including a Northern Lights Award<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sheinin |first=Tracy Gould |last2=Neighbor |date=2011-09-08 |title=Creative Writing Reading Series: Lawrence Millman |url=https://patch.com/georgia/vahi/ev--creative-writing-reading-series-lawrence-millman |access-date=2026-04-17 |website=Virginia Highland-Druid Hills, GA Patch |language=en}}</ref>, a Lowell Thomas Award<ref>{{Cite web |last=Doyle |first=Jennifer |date=2015-10-21 |title=Upton’s Fungi with Lawrence Millman |url=https://uptondaily.com/2015/10/20/uptons-fungi-with-lawrence-millman/ |access-date=2026-04-17 |website=UPTON DAILY |language=en}}</ref>, an award for the best article on Canada in a U.K. publication (1996), and a Pacific- Asia Gold Travel Award<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sierra |first=Gabrielle |date=1970-01-01 |title=Travel Writer Lawrence Millman Gives Reading at Emory 2/6 |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/atlanta/article/Travel-Writer-Lawrence-Millman-Gives-Reading-at-Emory-26-20120106 |access-date=2026-04-17 |website=BroadwayWorld.com |language=en}}</ref>; he has been anthologized in the Best American Travel Writing (Houghton Mifflin) three years in a row.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2002-10-15 |title=The Best American Travel Writing 2002 {{!}} Brookline Booksmith |url=https://brooklinebooksmith.com/book/9780618118809 |access-date=2026-04-17 |website=brooklinebooksmith.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Murdock |first=Ryan |date=2018-08-10 |title=An Interview with Lawrence Millman {{!}} Ryan Murdock |url=https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/08/lawrence-millman/ |access-date=2026-04-17 |website=ryanmurdock.com |language=en-CA}}</ref> He is fellow of the prestigious Explorers Club, who subsequently resigned from the club,<ref>[http://lawrencemillman.com/why-i-dropped-out-of-the-explorers-club/ Why I Dropped Out of the Explorer's Club], Lawrence Millman's blog, 8 Dec 2018</ref>

== Early life and education == Millman developed an early interest in the natural world during childhood, engaging in outdoor exploration and observation.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=A FunGi Among Us: Meet Lawrence Millman, the Square’s Expert Mycologist {{!}} Magazine {{!}} The Harvard Crimson |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2023/10/19/lawrence-millman-profile/ |access-date=2026-04-17 |website=www.thecrimson.com}}</ref> A formative experience occurred during a visit to Walden Pond, associated with the work of Henry David Thoreau, which contributed to his interest in natural history.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Outsider: My Boyhood with Thoreau — A Book Talk with Lawrence Millman {{!}} Thoreau Farm |url=https://thoreaufarm.org/outsider/ |access-date=2026-04-17 |website=thoreaufarm.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Nelson |first=Kristin |date=2024-09-18 |title=Author Talk with Lawrence Millman |url=https://www.falmouthpubliclibrary.org/blog/author-talk-with-lawrence-millman/ |access-date=2026-04-17 |website=Falmouth Public Library |language=en-US}}</ref> He later pursued academic studies in literature and earned a Ph.D. from Rutgers University.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nappier |first=Terri |date=2022-06-17 |title=Narrating the great outdoors |url=https://source.washu.edu/2022/06/narrating-the-great-outdoors/ |access-date=2026-04-17 |website=The Source |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Career == Millman began his professional career as a professor of English, but later shifted away from academia to pursue independent research and writing.<ref name=":1" /> He undertook ethnographic fieldwork in Ireland, where he documented oral storytelling traditions in his first ethnographic book, ''Our Like Will Not Be There Again'', which examines the decline of oral culture in the context of modern media.<ref name=":0" />

His subsequent research took him to Arctic regions, where he developed an interest in ethnomycology the relationship between human cultures and fungi. His work has documented Indigenous knowledge systems, including the medicinal and cultural uses of fungi.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pursuing Justice in the Arctic |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/pursuing-justice-in-the-arctic-57951112/ |access-date=2026-04-17 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref>

== Works ==

=== Scholarly works === He is the author of eighteen books, including ''Goodbye, Ice: Arctic Poems'', ''Fungipedia''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lawrence Millman on Fungipedia {{!}} Princeton University Press |url=https://press.princeton.edu/ideas/lawrence-millman-on-fungipedia |access-date=2026-04-17 |website=press.princeton.edu |language=en}}</ref>, ''Our Like Will Not Be There Again'', ''Northern Latitudes'', ''Last Places'', ''An Evening Among Headhunters'', ''A Kayak Full of Ghosts'', ''Lost in the Arctic'', and ''Fascinating Fungi of New England''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aitken |first=Madeleine |date=2024-10-06 |title=Lawrence Millman considers a boyhood shaped by Thoreau in 'Outsider' |url=https://cambridgeday-newspack.newspackstaging.com/2024/10/06/lawrence-millman-considers-a-boyhood-shaped-by-thoreau-in-outsider/ |access-date=2026-04-17 |website=Cambridge Day |language=en-US}}</ref> His work has also appeared in ''Smithsonian'', ''National Geographic Adventure'', the ''Atlantic Monthly'', ''Sports Illustrated.''

He has discovered a previously unknown lake in Borneo, and there is a mountain named after him outside Tasiilaq in eastern Greenland.

Millman was close friends with the outdoor writer Elliott Merrick (1905-1997).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://thoreaufarm.org/2020/05/elliott-merrick-a-remembrance/ |title=Elliott Merrick: A Remembrance |work=thoreaufarm.org |first=Lawrence |last=Millman |author-link=Lawrence Millman|date=May 3, 2020 |access-date=June 15, 2022}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[http://www.lawrencemillman.com Lawrence Millman Official Website] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080921110814/http://www.yesnet.yk.ca/events/youngauthors/bios/lawrence_bio.html Bio from the Yukon Young Writers Conference] *[https://rolfpotts.com/lawrence-millman/ Interview with Lawrence Millman]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Millman, Lawrence}} Category:American travel writers Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:Writers from Cambridge, Massachusetts Category:Living people Category:1946 births Category:Fellows of the Explorers Club Category:20th-century American explorers Category:Rutgers University alumni