Collins, Jim 1962-

PERSONAL:

Born February 16, 1962, in Keene, NH; son of Frank (an owner of a home health care business) and Margaret (a registered nurse) Collins; married Kristen Laine (a writer), June 17, 1995; children: Ursula, Virgil. Ethnicity: "White." Education: Dartmouth College, B.A., 1984; graduate study at Boston University, 1993. Politics: "Registered Democrat." Religion: United Church of Christ. Hobbies and other interests: Fly fishing, canoeing, back-country skiing, New England history.

ADDRESSES:

Home and office—Orange, NH. Agent—Stuart Krichevsky Agency, 381 Park Ave. S., Ste. 914, New York, NY 10016. E-mail—jimc@endor.com.

CAREER:

Yankee Homes, Dublin, NH, editor, 1986-89; Marlow R.F.D., Marlow, NH, founding editor, 1990-91; Dartmouth Life, Hanover, NH, founding editor, 1991-92; Yankee, Dublin, senior associate editor, 1992-95; freelance writer, 1995-99; Yankee, managing editor, 19919-2000, editor in chief, 2000-01; freelance writer, 2001—. Dartmouth Alumni, contributing editor, 1989-97, acting editor, 1997-99; New Hampshire Writers Project, member, speaker, and workshop leader, 1996—; New Hampshire Humanities Council, member, speaker, and discussion leader, 2000—; conference participant.

MEMBER:

Council for the Advancement of Secondary Education, Dartmouth Alumni Club of Southwest New Hampshire (president).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Council for the Advancement of Secondary Education, gold medals, 1992, for special magazine issue on mentors, and 1998, for Dartmouth Alumni, silver medals, 2004, for "Canoes Undying" and Dartmouth Life, New Hampshire Literary Prize, outstanding work of nonfiction, 2005, for The Last Best League: One Summer, One Season, One Dream; additional awards from City and Regional Magazine Association.

WRITINGS:

The Last Best League: One Summer, One Season, One Dream (nonfiction), Da Capo Press (Cambridge, MA), 2004.

Author of "How It Works," a monthly column in Attaché, 1997-2005. Work anthologized in books, including Yankee Home Hints, Rodale Press (Emmaus, PA), 1993; Yankee Magazine's Make It Last, Rodale Press (Emmaus, PA), 1996; Yankee Magazine's Practical Problem Solver, Rodale Press (Emmaus, PA), 1997; and Where the Mountain Stands Alone, University Press of New England, 2006. Contributor to periodicals, including Backpacker, Outside, Boston, Glamour, Reader's Digest, Geo, Old Farmer's Almanac, This Old House, and Life. Member of editorial board, A.M.C. Outdoors, 2000—.

SIDELIGHTS:

Jim Collins told CA: "I have been primarily a magazine editor and writer for most of my professional career. My passions include rural and blue-collar and New England subcultures, and narrative nonfiction. I've had the great fortune to learn from two mentors: long-time Yankee editor Mel Allen and Mark Kramer, director of the Nieman Foundation program on narrative journalism, based at Harvard University. In the fall of 2001 I left Yankee to parent and write full-time alongside my wife, writer Kristen Laine. My first book, The Last Best League: One Summer, One Season, One Dream, chronicled a season in the Cape Cod Baseball League, the place where the best college players in the country come face to face with their dreams of becoming pros."