Robert E. Saunders - Bio

Robert E. Saunders grew up in southeastern Ohio, where he split his time between exploring the woods, creeks, and fields around his grandparents’ farm and losing himself in reading. Boxes of comics and magazines filled his room, along with the books of Ray Bradbury and Edgar Rice Burroughs, among others.

After graduating from David Lipscomb College (now Lipscomb University) in Nashville, he spent a few aimless years roaming the country before settling in West Virginia. There he earned a master’s degree in journalism from Marshall University, got married, raised a daughter, and spent the next decades in the newspaper business.

He was promoted to editor just about the time print began its long decline—though he swears the two events are unrelated. He later served as editor of a regional full-color lifestyles magazine.

Saunders’ influences are too many to list, but among his favorites are outdoor writers like Edward Abbey, Norman Maclean, John Gierach, and Jim Harrison. Humorists, though, hold a special place. “There’s something absurdly funny about humans blundering into the great outdoors, and writers who capture that are rare,” he says. He regularly sifted through old outdoor magazines in search of the humor columns of Ed Zern (a West Virginian), Corey Ford, and Patrick F. McManus.

His first book, Tales of the Beechy Hollow Great Outdoors Club, published by Twelvepole Press, is both a tribute to those writers and a continuation of their tradition.