Peter Matthiessen was born in New York City in 1927 and had already begun his writing career by the time he graduated from Yale University in 1950. The following year, he was a founder ofย The Paris Review. Besidesย At Play in the Fields of the Lord, which was nominated for the National Book Award, he has published six other works of fiction, includingย Far Tortugaย andย Killing Mister Watson. Mr. Matthiessen's parallel career as a naturalist and explorer has resulted in numerous widely acclaimed books of nonfiction, among themย The Tree Where Man Was Born, which was nominated for the National Book Award, andย The Snow Leopard, which won it. He died in 2014.