Hull, Jeff 1962–

PERSONAL: Born 1962, in New York, NY. Education: Attended Pennsylvania State University; University of Montana, M.F.A., 1992.

ADDRESSES: Home—Huson, MT. Office—University of Montana School of Journalism, Missoula, MT 59812. E-mail—jeffhull@9mile.com.

CAREER: Worked variously as a journalist, as a guide in Montana and in the Tuamotus archipelago of the South Pacific; University of Montana, Missoula, visiting lecturer in journalism.

AWARDS, HONORS: Fiction fellowship from University of Montana.

WRITINGS:

Pale Morning Done (novel), Lyons Press (Guilford, CT), 2005.

Contributor to publications, including Ploughshares, Southern Review, Atlantic Monthly, Audubon, National Geographic Traveler, Outside, Town and Country, Travel and Leisure, Fortune, Men's Journal, Fly Fisherman, American Angler, Yachting, and Sailing.

SIDELIGHTS: Jeff Hull was born in New York City and raised in a small town in northwest Ohio. He attended Pennsylvania State University for his undergraduate studies, and there wrote his first magazine article for a class assignment. Hull then moved to Hilton Head, South Carolina, where he helped to start a small newspaper. Another move took him to Newport, Rhode Island, where work for several sailing magazines launched his freelance-writing career. Hull writes for a wide range of periodicals, with a focus on travel, nature, and outdoor sports, and has written articles on a variety of subjects, including falconry, Olympic fencing, skunks, grizzly bears, road biking, fly-fishing, and sailing. His work frequently requires him to travel internationally. Hull was nominated for a National Magazine award in 1994.

Pale Morning Done, Hull's first novel, follows Marshall Tate, a fly-fishing guide living in Montana who is juggling his attempts to return his father's ranch to nature, create a fishing stream from a spring, and manage his romantic life. Hull addresses the dual relationships between man and nature, and man and his neighbor. Azita Osanloo, in an online review for the Missoula Independent, wrote that the novel "hardly seems to represent a new west, nor should it be forced to labor under the weight of the old one's legacy. While many Montanans will enjoy this book, it remains unclear what home it might find in literature's broader spectrum, a playing field that defies regionalism instead of relying on it." A contributor for Publishers Weekly remarked that Hull's work "stands out for its graceful, lovely evocation of the outdoors and as a chronicle of the struggle for control of a rare plot of Western wilderness." In an article for Kirkus Reviews, a contributor called the book "a promising debut: rich in local color and uncontrived dialogue, with a plot that moves like a mountain stream."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2005, review of Pale Morning Done, p. 376.

Publishers Weekly, May 16, 2005, review of Pale Morning Done, p. 38.

ONLINE

Billings Outpost Online, http://www.billingsnews.com/ (September 1, 2005), "Jeff Hull."

Missoula Independent Online, http://www.missoulanews.com/ (September 1, 2005), Azita Osanloo, review of Pale Morning Done.

University of Montana School of Journalism Web site, http://www.umt.edu/journalism/ (September 1, 2005), "Jeff Hull."